Catholics warned to avoid materialism

Catholics were yesterday warned to avoid being caught in the trappings of materialism, so easily fostered by another oil and gas boom. In San Fernando the warning came from Fr Clyde Harvey yesterday as he advised Catholics to embrace the Lenten season as a means of developing their moral and spiritual values.

Delivering the homily at the Ash Wednesday mass at the Bishop Mendes Auditorium of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church, Harris Promenade, parish priest Harvey told a packed hall  congregation that, contrary to popular belief, the observance of Lent was not about Carnival. It is about the celebration of Easter, he said, and the renewing of one’s commitment to Jesus Christ. “We are a minority and no longer a majority. We must be very clear about what we do during this period of Lent and be persistent in its observance. This is not a New Year’s resolution, but a lifestyle that can influence our families and our workplace,” Harvey said.

The outspoken priest said the nation was currently “bathing” in a sea of materialism — with oil and gas money. However, he warned, “There will be hard lessons to be learnt if we are swept up.” A people becoming too materialistic, Harvey said, would result in a “very hard fall.” And even though the nation had transformed Ash Wednesday into “cool down Wednesday,” Harvey said, the church would make the right decisions and turn away from materialism. Scores of believers lined the halls of the auditorium to receive the traditional marking of ashes on their foreheads.