Baptists dream of bright future

A HALFWAY house to rehabilitate prisoners, a hospital, a primary school and a university were some of the things members of the Spiritual Baptist community were envisioning as Trinidad and Tobago celebrated Shouter Baptist Liberation Day on Tuesday. Several speakers at the National Congress of Incorporated Baptist Organisations of TT’s celebrations at Maloney African Lands, referred to plans for a $15 million multi-purpose hall that would be constructed there.

They said one key function of the proposed facility would be providing training opportunities for the young and old alike and teaching Spiritual Baptists how to become entrepeneurs. They also spoke of plans for a cultural museum, guest house and halfway house for prisoners on the same site.  Reiterating an earlier promise to the Shouter Baptists, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Government remains committed to helping them and were awaiting their proposals. Faith teacher, Carol Gibbs De Peisa, briefly criticised the management of the Crowne Plaza for an incident last week which saw Shouter Baptists being ejected from the hotel’s ballroom.

Addressing celebrations hosted by the Council of Elders Spiritual Baptist Faith of TT at Orange Grove Lands, Maloney, Archbishop Barbara Gray Burke spoke of her organisation’s plans to establish a mini-hospital, primary school and a Shouter Baptist university. Burke said education and training were pivotal to developing the nation’s youths and called for unity among all members of the Shouter Baptist community. During that function, Burke presented the Prime Minister with a document about the Shouter Baptist religion.