‘Baptist struggle not yet over’

REVEREND Hazel Ann De Peza, principal of the Herman Parris Spiritual Baptist Southland School of Theology, has sounded a warning to the Baptist faithful that the struggle is not yet over. De Peza stressed that notwithstanding the recognition the Baptist community had gained in recent years, there was still much to be achieved.

Alluding to the repeal of the Prohibition Act 54 years ago, which debarred Spiritual Baptists from practising their faith publicly, and granting of a public holiday in 1996, De Peza noted there were many areas the Spiritual Baptist Church was lagging behind. “We still have no Spiritual Baptist Cathedral, we still have no Spiritual Baptist medical institution,” De Peza said as she warned followers of the faith against becoming “complacent.”

Teacher Hazel, as she is known in Tobago, issued the advice when she addressed Baptist Liberation Day celebrations last Wednesday in the sister isle. She told a large congregation at Shaw Park Cultural Complex: “Let us bear in mind although we have come very far from where we were in 1917, we still have a mighty long way to go.”

“Let us not forget, the road is long and hard. So there is no time to rest or relax, now is not the time to get weary or tired,” she continued. De Peza told the gathering that persons in the Spiritual Baptist faith had “come too far.” Nobody, she said, told the faithful the road would be easy, but not to believe God had brought them that far to leave them. She then led the gathering of the faithful in song.