Several churches have observed the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in this year. At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica has four anniversaries in the latter part of 2017.

First, 2017 marks 180 years since the establishment of the apostolic vicariate of Jamaica. The vicariate of Jamaica was entrusted to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) until the establishment of a diocese in 1956.

The second and third anniversaries are that Kingston was elevated to an archdiocese with an archbishop and a separate diocese was established in Montego Bay in 1967, 50 years ago this year. Indeed, the first archbishop of Kingston was installed when the first bishop of Montego Bay was ordained on November 30, exactly 50 years ago today.

The fourth anniversary is that the vicariate of Mandeville, established in 1991, became the diocese of Mandeville in November 1997, 20 years ago.

The irony here is that, while Protestants point to oppression meted out against the so-called reformers, the Roman Catholic Church was late in establishing ecclesiastical divisions in Jamaica because it was banned for 136 years between 1655 and 1792.

Father Gabriel de Barona died on the banks of the Black River as he ministered to the Spaniards who fought unsuccessfully to retake the island from the English.

Slaves en route to Cuba, who were Roman Catholics, were stolen by pirates and ended up in St Mary, where they kept an underground church. Since the restoration, a Roman Catholic church was built in Preston Hill, St Mary, for these pioneers. Since its restoration in 1791, the Roman Catholic Church established schools, at least one hospital, clinics, several children’s homes, eradicated leprosy in Jamaica, established credit unions, constructed the first housing scheme in Jamaica, as well as established several orphanages and children’s homes.

The majority of Roman Catholics in Jamaica did not and do not attend Roman Catholic schools. For example, I attended non-denominational Jamaica College. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that parents should have full freedom in choosing the schools for their children. And my late father attended Jamaica College, as did my two grandfathers. My father, who was a convert, was not going to send his sons to any other school but Jamaica College, notwithstanding his conversion to Roman Catholicism. It does not work that way in the Jamaican culture and several other Roman Catholics who attended other high schools can attest to this.

The Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica is little understood and not very popular in Jamaica. Every time I mention this there are those who are not Roman Catholic who disagree. My usual reply is that they should try telling everyone for a month that they are thinking of converting to the Roman Catholic Church and record the response.

The Roman Catholic Church is less than two per cent of the Jamaican population, never mind what the official statistics state. There are several people who, for their own misguided reasons, state that they are Roman Catholics to census takers who never ask them for proof.

At this time of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, some have been extolling its virtues, such as the growth of democracy as carried by the English who happened to turn Protestant when King Henry VIII formed the Church of England.

And here I emphasise the growth of democracy, because the mere fact that democracy is a combination of two Greek words that mean people rule suggests that democracy is quite ancient. And one can also speak of far more ancient forms of democracy founded in Africa and Asia.

Some have written about the advancement of literacy, which came about by reading the Bible, which the Protestants reputedly made more available. Interestingly, these people, if any, have made very little mention as to why the Roman Catholic Church was cautious about the great use of the Bible in terms of the indiscriminate publishing of holy scripture. The truth is that some of the so-called reformers were dishonestly exerting their own misguided beliefs and referring to them as translations of the original text.

Slavery was abolished in the English territories before it was done by the other colonial territories controlled by other European nations. But it can be argued that it had to be in that order, because English slavery was more oppressive than in territories controlled by other European interests. The revolts to end slavery would naturally start in the British colonies before they started in the other colonies.

Here, in Jamaica, the shell-shock irony is that, despite 98 per cent of the Jamaican people adhering to Protestant, evangelical and Seventh-day Adventist churches, this had very little impact on crime, violence, sexual irresponsibility, and several other social sins. Indeed, in terms of statistics, Jamaica has been dubbed the crime capital of the world.

If the Roman Catholic Church had a very large majority in this country and the crime statistic were what it is, what would the members of the other churches be saying about Roman Catholicism? But when the ‘shoe is on the other foot’, Roman Catholics are accused of ‘throwing stones’ whenever this is pointed out.

The anniversaries of the Protestant Reformation and those in the local Roman Catholic Church coincide with the passing of legislation to introduce a compulsory national identification system (NIDS), which is scheduled to begin in January 2019. Some say that it is a fulfilment of the ‘mark of the beast’ found in the book of Revelation.

In Jamaica, traditionally it has been the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Rastafarians who have held that the mark of the beast is manifested in the ‘Pope of Rome’. Actually, the number 666 was referring to the Emperor Nero who murdered Christians in Rome before the conversion of the Emperor Constantine. But NIDS is being referred to as ‘666’ at a time when the governor general and the prime minister are adherents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What an irony!

ekrubm765@yahoo.com