Vote for Jesus

Taking a dig at the political hustings in Tobago for the upcoming Tobago House of Assembly (THA), newly-ordained Roman Catholic priest Father Steve Duncan yesterday urged Tobagonians to vote for Jesus. Delaford-born Father Duncan was addressing the packed congregation at the St Joseph RC Church in Scarborough shortly after being ordained as a priest in an historic service/ceremony.

Acknowledging the presence of THA Chief Secretary/PNM deputy political leader Orville London and Cecil Caruth, the NAR leader who is now campaigning on a DAC platform, Duncan declared: “I shall have now begun a new ‘political’ party and my one aim now, as a priest, therefore, is to ask people to cast their vote, your one vote, for Jesus.” Duncan, 34, was actually an Independent candidate in the 1992 THA elections, but exchanged the political platform for the church.

He engaged in studies for the priesthood at the Regional Seminary at Mt St Benedict, and was ordained as a deacon last May, following which he was assigned to the parish of Our Lady of Montserrat, in Tortuga, from June 12. The “politician for Jesus” graduated with a BA in Theology from the University of the West Indies last October. In his sermon at the ordination yesterday, a historic first for Tobago, Archbishop Edward Gilbert emphasised that no matter what he does, Duncan’s responsibility was to mediate the Covenant to all the people, all the time. “If he doesn’t, he shall suffer the same fate as the Kings of Israel,” the Archbishop warned. “You must be an instrument of salvation to the people. Meditate in the (God’s) law, believe what you read, and teach what you believe,” he told the newly-ordained priest.