THE EDITOR: I have been reading a lot of articles in our local newspapers concerning the Roman Catholic church and I decided that I should write this letter to inform a lot of people of my view on this matter and our present crime situation in this country so I would appreciate if you can publish my letter in your newspaper.
As a Catholic and a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal I feel very hurt to know how people are trying to destroy the church by writing, criticising and comparing our church with many little churches instead of taking ten minutes of the day to pray for our religious and lay ministers. First of all the Catholic church was the only one Christian church founded by Peter, so our church is the Universal church; secondly our leaders don’t go around bad talking other religions. In the contrary respect all religious denominations keeping in mind and focusing in what they have to do. Mother Teresa used to say “I love all religions but I love mine the best”. People in this country have been bad talking our church without noticing that our church is very much alive and great things are happening within.
Many times we hear of how many Roman Catholics have left the Catholic church, but we never hear of how many have come back, how many people from other religious denominations are being helped every day by many religious and community leaders, how many people have been healed by the laying of hands of members of our church, how many people have been educated in Catholic schools, how many people are being fed every day by Catholic lay people, how many great musicians and singing stars have started their careers by singing in the school choirs, how many Catholic doctors and nurses go beyond the call of duty to make sure that they can help the sick while others strike. How many priests and religious are in 24 hours call to help people no matter what religion or race they belong to?
The Roman Catholics that have left the church are those that have kept away, too busy with their material world unable them to learn and get involved in the activities and programmes that the church has to offer, they expect to stay away from God and then get immediate relief when troubles come around. They look for immediate solutions to their financial and family problems. Instead of praying and asking the Lord for wisdom, they are looking for people to tell them who and why they have been harmed instead of looking at themselves and asking what they did wrong.
The Lord gives and He takes it back. He punishes us when we do wrong because he wants us to repent of our wrong doings. It is simple. Our society has been suffering by the presence of all those who call themselves psychics who have been manipulating the minds of our people allowing Satan to take control of our families and destroy relationships. It is sad that people including our Government leaders prefer to pay the fortune tellers and the obeah persons fantastic fees allowing them to visit their homes and allowing them to predict disasters, remember while godly people speak the word of God, they speak the word of Satan causing confusion in families and the society. Instead they should spend time feeding the poor or giving a donation to the church to help them with their work. Our people would put a dollar in the donation basket in the Catholic church but would go to another church and give a tithe of ten percent of their income. Some government leaders want to punish the man that steals giving them long sentences in jail but demand bribes for favours and exploit the poor.
In this society honesty is hard to come by today, again the greatest and dear friends try to rob their friend from a dollar. It is simple, how can a poor man be blamed for the drug trade when he never had the money to buy it in the first place when it started to come to this country? When the so-called drug lords started to make millions putting pressure on honest citizens of our society, they never sat down and thought on the repercussions of the drug trade; they never read or got informed of how this trade has destroyed so many countries and cause so much of pain to people all over the world. Why are you allowed to spoil a beautiful and peaceful country like ours for the sake of money … murders, kidnappings are all being originated by the drug trade. I must admit that I was asked by a nun to give a list of VIP’s that would be attending a religious occasion and I spent the entire week and I could not find a VIP, then I say to myself it is so funny the nuns are the only VIPs that should be attending
The Catholic church teaches us that forgiveness is healing, Jesus said go and sin no more. In order to start to clean up our wrong doings we must start by asking God to remove all the pan, hatred and illness from our hearts because this is being caused by the refusal to forgive or being forgiven. Forgiveness is not an easy process. It can involve resistance, shame and struggle. We must say I am sorry and start looking at our wrong doings, start with our family, our friends, our community, our society and our country. “All creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. For creation was condemned to lose his purpose, not of his own will, but because God willed to be so. Yet there was hope that creation one day will be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that up to the present time all the creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. But is not just creation alone which groans” we who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.” (Romans 8: 19-23) Good News Bible. As I close this article I must admit that if everyone of us try to change our lives and focus where we are wrong this country can come back to be the paradise that it used to be a few years ago. May God bless us all.
BEATRIZ RAMOUTARSINGH
Port-of-Spain
PRESIDENT of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC) Alloy Lequay has defended his board’s decision to support Guyanese Chetram Singh for the presidency of the West Indies Cricket Board.
Yesterday, Lequay issued a two-page media release seeking to clarify what he described as “misrepresentation of facts in the media.” Lequay has faced mounting criticism since it was revealed last week that the TTCBC have put their support behind the Guyanese bookie who is up against Trinidadian Willie Rodriguez in the elections slated for July 12 and 13 in Dominica. He said the decision to support Singh, a member of the WICB executive was done after careful consideration and to ensure continuity of the plans and programme put in place under the outgoing Wes Hall’s leadership. The former West Indies and Barbados fast bowler had informed the WICB he would not stand for re-election after serving one term as board president, citing health reasons caused by the stress of constant travel.
Lequay said the WICB Executive, on being informed on Hall’s imminent departure considered three candidates and it was agreed that Singh was the most suitable nominee. He said the deliberations of the WICB executive were relayed to him and the TT delegate to the WI Board, Elli Lewis, first vice-president of the TTCBC by Richard De Souza, another local representative on the regional cricket organisation. “These discussions were finalised at a WICB executive meeting in Barbados on Friday, June 6,” stated Lequay. However one day before, Lequay said he received a telephone call from Jackie Hendricks, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association who advised that they were considering nominating Rodriguez for the top position. “I informed Mr Hendricks of the process that was taking place and promised to convey his request for support for Mr Rodriguez to Mr De Souza on his return from Barbados on June 7 where he was attending the WICB Executive meeting,” stated Lequay. Four days later Lequay revealed he told the Jamaican that De Souza had made a commitment to the WICB Executive to support Singh and Val Banks of Anguilla for the offices of president and vice-president respectively.
“Our board therefore had a moral commitment to honour the agreement,” stated Lequay. He said at no time was there any communication with Rodriguez, the president of Queen’s Park Cricket Club concerning the seeking of a nominee having regard to the collective agreement of the WICB excutive. Lequay said the TTCBC executive were apprised of the developments on June 12 when the nomination of Singh and Banks were endorsed. “The statement in the print media that I mandated our representatives on the WICB to support Mr Singh was erroneous and deliberately misleading. I have no such authority,” stated Lequay. “Finally I operate on the principle that nothing is politically right if it is morally wrong. My cricket colleagues support this view hence our moral position,” ended Lequay.
THE Trinidad and Tobago football team has been described as good ambassadors, both on and off the field by manager George Joseph.
Joseph said so at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport yesterday, following the team’s return from a three-week tour of Africa. Also speaking upon the team’s return home was recently-appointed head coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier, who, in his humble way, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity of touring with the squad. “I’m pleased with their attitude and discipline,” he noted, “but there is still a lot of work to be done.” The start (towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup) was a good one and it augurs well for the future.”
Speaking on behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), vice-president Raymond Tim Kee welcomed the squad back and boasted that “we (Trinidad and Tobago) look forward to controlling football in the Caribbean” and urged corporate citizens to support the team’s quest for qualification for the forthcoming W/Cup in Germany. The senior team will face Venezuela in another friendly encounter on July 3, while the Under-23 outfit will meet Martinique on Tuesday. Venues for both matches are yet to be decided. During the tour, the national team defeated the Kenya Under-23 squad 2-0, drew 1-1 against Kenya and 0-0 against Botswana, and lost a controversial encounter against South Africa 2-1 on Saturday.
West Indies chief selector Sir Vivian Richards has blasted coaches in the Caribbean for not properly preparing young West Indian cricketers to make the transition to the international arena.
“When you see some of the guys who they are sending to you and who you are having a look at, some are not the final package,” Richards said in the latest edition of the Clico Cricket Quarterly magazine released in Barbados last week. “I am very disappointed with whatever are the criteria for helping some of these young individuals. I feel they are missing it at whatever level,” Sir Vivian added. Richards, the West Indies highest run-scorer in Test cricket with 8,540 runs, said several young cricketers in the Caribbean who represented their countries in the Carib Beer Series, are lacking the basics. “Guys come to you and don’t even know how to run between the wickets well. They don’t know how to take a particular catch. They don’t know if a ball is hit to you on the boundary with a certain bowler bowling and if the spin comes to you, which way it is going to spin and all that,” Richards lamented. “So I feel there is a lot to be done…They have got a lot to do in terms of what a coach’s job is all about and I haven’t quite seen the improvement in some of the individuals to take them to the very, very top,” he contended.
The former West Indies captain, who never lost a Test series while he led the regional side, noted that there are rudimentary things which should be done long before the players get into the Test or one-day side. “Some of these guys have to come and learn their skills through the coach at the very highest level of West Indies cricket when there are certain programmes put in place so guys can fall in place and become part of a system,” Richards remarked. Noting several elementary catches were dropped during the West Indies last tour of Asia when he accompanied the side, Richards questioned what the regional coaches are doing to remedy these faults. “These are some things we have to work seriously on in the future. “And there are some (coaches) who have a lot to say about who should be playing and who are not playing but I would say to them that they have a job to do rather than to talk,” Sir Vivian declared.
ATO BOLDON, Darrel Brown and Marc Burns are among a squad of 18 named by the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) for the Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships, scheduled from July 4-6 in Grenada.
The 29-year-old Boldon, the quadruple Olympic 100m and 200m medallist, is the experienced head in a youthful team which includes the 19-year-old duo Brown and Burns, close friends and Auburn University students who took gold and silver in the 100m at the World Junior Championships in Jamaica last year. Boldon and Brown will competein the 100 metres sprint, while Burns, Niconnor Alexan-der and Marvin Regis will form the 4x100m relay team. Regis and Julien Raeburn will participate in the 200m, with Raeburn, Ato Modibo, Sheridan Kirk and national quartermile champ Damion Barry forming the 4x400m relay squad.
The Tobago-born Kirk will also run the two-lap (800m) while Cleavon Dillon will compete in the long jump and Dave Stoute the shot put. National sprint double (100m-200m) champs — Fana Ashby (senior) and Wanda Hutson (junior) will also vie for gold in both distances, as well as the 4x100m team, which includes 200m competitor Keenan Gibson and long jumper Onika James. WITCO “Sports-woman of the Year” Cleopatra Borel and Candice Scott will go head to head in the shot put, while Scott will also aim for gold in the hammer throw and Adia McKinnon the 400m.
ST GEORGE’S: Opening the West Indies Women’s Cricket Tournament yesterday, defending champions St Lucia beat the United States by eight wickets while two other scheduled matches were washed out by rain.
St Lucia won the toss and sent the first-time team, USA, to bat at the River Sallee Ground in Grenada. The newcomers made 74 all out in 33 overs, which St Lucia then surpassed with 76 for two in 15 overs. Heavy overnight rains forced the cancellation of Jamaica’s match against St Vincent at the Victoria Park venue; and Grenada’s match with Guyana at La Saggesse. Each of the four teams received three points toward their tournament total, and neither match was rescheduled. Trinidad and Tobago were not scheduled to play yesterday.
KINGSTOWN: Jamaica’s newest fast-bowling sensation Jerome Taylor called it a “dream” to be included in the West Indies cricket team to face Sri Lanka in the first of two Tests starting in St Lucia on Friday.
Taylor, who turns 19 on Sunday, received the news on Monday while representing the West Indies President’s XI against Sri Lanka in a tour match which ended in a draw at Arnos Vale. “People have been coming to me and saying that I could be selected for the First Test so I was somewhat mentally prepared, but still the thought of being in the West Indies squad is just great,” Taylor said yesterday in an interview in St Vincent. He said like every young fast bowler in the region, his ambition has been to play for the West Indies but the speed at which things have happened is like a dream. “I’ve been dreaming about it all along,” he said. “I wanted to play for the West Indies so badly but I didn’t know it would come this quickly. I will just have to go out there and grab the opportunity with both hands.”
Taylor, a slim Jamaican, would be the 10th teenager to play Test cricket for the West Indies if chosen in the final 11. He would be the youngest since 18-year-old batsman Alfie Roberts against New Zealand in Auckland in 1956. He made his First Class debut for Jamaica in the domestic Carib Beer Series in February and quickly made his mark with innings figures of eight for 59 against Trinidad and Tobago in his third match. Achieving good control from a relaxed action and generating pace consistently clocked in the high 80 miles (129 kilometres) an hour range, he took 21 wickets at an average of 20.14 in the Carib Series. He bowled impressively in his first international appearance in the West Indies’ victory in the third one-day match against Sri Lanka in St Vincent on June 11, claiming two wickets for 39 runs from 10 overs. He recalled the match, saying that remaining calm was the key to his success.
LOUD MUSIC signalled his intention to make some noise in the feature CLICO Midsummer Classic on Labour Day, Friday, at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.
The Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj owned and trained gelding hustled over 600 metres in the splendid time of 35.9 seconds in a gallop yesterday morning, and could well test the more fancied runners in the $125,000 race over 1900 metres. And another Maharj owned and trained runner Smooth Operator, sent out warning signals to his nine rivals in the CLICO Executive Flexible Premium Annuity Trophy event over 1100 metres on the turf course with a sharp sprint over 600 metres in 35.8 seconds together with stablemate Sweet Laura Lee, who is entered in the CLICO Life Time Advantage Trophy over 1200 metres on the main course.
The maiden Copy Cat continued to please at gallops with a fine run over 600 metres timed in 37.9 seconds, while Cheerleader who holds the same engagement in the CLICO Life Choices Trophy over 1200 metres clocked 27.2 seconds for a 400 metres spin. Another holding the engagement, Creme Caramel, stepped over 600 metres in 37.3 seconds, while Mandela who is entered in the CLICO Term To Age 65 Trophy over 1600 metres on the turf, stopped the clock at 37 seconds flat for a 600 metres run. Also showing some sparkle on the gallops yesterday morning was Van Nistelrooy who got back in 37.3 seconds for a 600 metres run. He is entered in the CLICO Life Choices Trophy over 1200 metres.
Here are the gallops recorded yesterday: 400 METRES: CHEERLEADER – 27.2; LAZAR WOLF – 29.4; RING DANG DO – 29.9; RUNNING TRICK – 29.9; SUPER GREY – 29.9.
600 METRES: COPY CAT – 37.9; CREME CARAMEL – 37.3; LOUD MUSIC – 35.9; LOVELY PEARL – 41.7; MANDELA – 37.0; MUTOLA – 39.4; OUTBURST – 40.5; PEACE OF MIND – 39.4; RED HILL – 43.2; SMOOTH OPERATOR and SWEET LAURA LEE 35.8; SUNNY- 44.9. 35.8; VAN NISTELROOY – 37.3.
800 METRES: I’M NO HUNTER – 49.8; PEACE CONSORT – 58.2; REIGN OF FIRE – 59.4.
TEENAGER Giselle Salandy has been stripped of her Ibero junior welterweight boxing crown.
This was revealed yesterday by international matchmaker Buxo Potts who said the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) championship has been declared vacant. This development is partly due to the inability of the 16-year-old Siparia schoolgirl to obtain a professional boxers’ licence to fight in Trinidad and Tobago. The rules of the Boxing Board of Control stipulate that an applicant for a licence to fight professionally in the local ring must be 17 years old. Potts also explained yesterday that Salandy had changed her manager, leaving Fitzroy Richards, who took her to the regional championship late last year in Curacao when she outpointed Paola Rojas of Colombia. He said Salandy’s new manager, Curtis Joseph, lacked the “wherewithall” to promote the fight in countries that were “favourable” to her age. Those countries include Curacao and St Maarten of the Netherland Antilles.
The former jockey explained that Joseph needs at least US $20,000 to promote a card outside of Trinidad and Tobago to place Salandy on the main bout against a leading contender for the title and fulfill the requirements of the WIBA for a defence of the crown within six months of winning it. Potts said he has already been successful in making a first bid for the vacant WIBA junior welterweight championship and hopes to have another young Trinidadian, Giselle Martin, fight for the crown. The match, against a top ten contender will most likely take place in Curacao in August said Potts. Meanwhile he is busily putting together a June 27 card tentatively set for the Biomel Gym in Arima.
In the main bout, Iva Weston, ranked No 9 by the WIBA in the 140-lb category will make a claim for a world championship against Anna Pascall of Panama over eight rounds. Pascall is the top ranked contender for the vacant title and gets the opportunity to fight in Trinidad for the crown after Potts put in a successfull first bid with the WIBA to stage the contest. Weston comes off an impressive performance in her last contest on the undercard of the Salandy-Rojas fight in Curacao. She is currently undefeated in six fights. On the undercard of the June 27 presentation, Gwendolyn O’Neal comes up against Scrolla Davidson in the 175-lb division in another women’s bout; Craig Storm fights Guyanese Reon Moore; Waldron Brooks matches fists with Kelvin George in a welterweight scrap; and Tiana Sosa-Saney of Tigers Gym gets a rematch with Giselle Martin. All bouts are over six rounds.
A record of 29 boats participated in the recent Famous Grouse Kingfish tournament with 16 juniors in the field of 124 anglers.
Most of the boats set out eagerly before daybreak to hook the biggest kingfish in Trinidad waters and cop the beautiful hampers and cash prizes at stake. The lucky angler to pull in the largest kingfish which weighed 37 lbs was Fritz Faber in his boat “Maya”. The second biggest kingfish was caught by Albert Battoo on his boat “Mama Mia” and the third heaviest was brought in by Andrew Maingot on the boat “Barbie Doll Too”. Best Boat prize went to “Fancy Man” who received part of his prize from David Thompson of Hand Arnold, agents for the Famous Grouse Whisky, sponsors of the tournament.
The Best Junior Angler, Bret Thompson fishing on his father’s boat “Moon Shadow” copped the overall junior prize of a hamper, a Shimano reel and complimentary membership into the International Game Fish Association. The Best Female Angler’s prize was won by Sasha Ribeiro fishing on the boat “Barracuda”. TTGFA Secretary, Sid Johnson, reminded the anglers of the upcoming Junior Anglers Fishing Tournament which takes place on July 5.
