Catholic Priest, Father Branker John, is challenging members of the public to turn the “time in” during Covid-19 into a “time out” opportunity to improve lives at home.
He was speaking at a Ministry of Health press conference on Thursday.
According to Fr. John, one should embrace this “time out” as a moment to be creative in their movements towards God.
“This challenging time is a time of opportunity and I would like to use it in the form of a sentence. Could this ‘time in’ be a ‘time-out?” he asked. “The time we have been given to be inside, could it really be a time out?”
He continued, “A time-out by definition is a short break during a sports match, basketball comes to mind…where the team can get instructions from the manager or the coach, it is a time to quickly evaluate what has happened thus far and strategize to improve one’s game as to win. The goal is to win.”
Fr. John added, “A time out is also a short period in which a child has to stop whatever activity he or she is doing as punishment for behaving badly. Usually, that child has to go in one spot and stay there. Could this ‘time in’ be a time out?”
He said if that’s the case, it is not a time to be depressed.
“It is time to get to work,” Fr. John suggested. “What are our weaknesses? What should we be doing to improve our lives at home? Are we really investing the time and effort that we should in our children? Am I as involved with my child’s education and training as I should be?”
“Husbands and wives, parents and children,” he urged, “if this is time out, then it is time to strategize.”
Fr. John believes now is the time for husbands to ask, “Do I love my wife as I love my own body?”
He also admonished wives to respect their husbands and asked, “If we have not been doing these things, how can we begin to do that now?”
He said this is a time for honest conversation.
Fr. John also encouraged people to return to planting their own foods.
“We were taught self-sufficiency long ago; we grew up with this but we have moved away from this as a nation,” he noted. “Now we are being encouraged to return to planting our own foods. Now is the time to begin if you have stopped. Why? because we do not know how long this will last.”
The catholic priest stated, “Dominicans are blessed to live in a land that can sustain its people if they work hard … we have clean water, fresh water, clean air, fertile soil. We can do this and we must because food security is extremely important…This is a time of opportunity; crisis is a time of opportunity.”
He believes that the doors of creativity have been thrown open and persons have a chance to go, “creative crazy … think outside the box.”
Fr. John also recommends this COVID-19 time as a time to “let down our inhibitions and be generous to the less fortunate. “…Many of our sisters and brothers are in need and will be in need; we have to look out for each other,” he noted.
He used the example of Catholic “brothers and sisters, clergy and laity” responding to the call and “providing a hot breakfast for our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Roseau”, to invite others to join in this initiative.
Fr. John also thanked the members of the general public who have been cooperating with the police.
“For the most part, we are still a work in progress with physical distancing but we will not give up,” the Grand Bay parish priest declared.
Message well intended and probably well taken. But I can’t believe a young Black man would pride himself in becoming, of all things, a catholic priest. A catholic priest? Since they Vatican started allowing black ‘men’ to be priests, I have never seen a bunch of happier naive Black ‘boys’. I can now imagine how happy Black ‘men’ will become when the mormon church starts to allow them to become their priests.
It is not that I am supporting the Roman Catholic Church nor these Black boys wanting to become Roman Catholic Priest!
In the first place when a Christian think of a Priest we have to think of a Priest as someone out of the ancient tribe of Levi. Now I don’t know of any living decedents of Arron or Moses yet alive; nevertheless, the apostle Paul was anointed by Jesus Christ to bring the word of God to the Gentiles.
Paul The Apostle was never called a priest, pope, or bishop any place in the Bible; none of the twelve including Judas who walked with Jesus was called priest, father bishop, rabbi, or reverend, nor elder, they were called by their name.
What about Jesus?
Jesus is his name.
That is beside the point: the first black so called priest on record dates back to 1880; so, 2020 – 1880, seems like a 140 years. He was a Black American named Agustus Tolton
More To Come:
Here is a bit of history:
Tolton’s life story was indeed incredible; it begins with a somewhat miraculous escape from slavery in the year 1862.
Tolton was born enslaved in Missouri in April 1854 to parents Peter, and Martha Tolton, who had him baptized catholic, because the family which owned him; mother and father were Roman Catholic.
Seems like he was also called Augustine Tolton who was the first known American diocesan priest of African descent.
When the civil war broke out in 1861, Peter Tolton ran away to join the Union Army, his mother Martha also fled with her three children; that was a bid for freedom that almost ended in capture.
When they made it to Freedom in the State of Illinois Martha Tolton broke down and cried.
In Illinois, they got direction to the small settlement of Quincy, where they joined a catholic church; Augustus mother took him to a catholic school, and asked the priest to allow him to study there.
Will continue:
In your his-story lesson you said.
“Tolton was born enslaved in Missouri in April 1854 to parents Peter, and Martha Tolton, who had him baptized catholic, because the family which owned him; mother and father were Roman Catholic.”
Is it not strange that the mother would have him baptized catholic, when the family who “owned” him were catholic? Is it not strange that the parents would also be catholic because their “owners” were catholic?
Talk about loving and worshiping your “massa”
When oh when will black people stop being so stupid?
The catholic church is the single most criminal organization in the history of mankind.
If you were not confounded, you would understand the Slave owners; the people who owned his mother and father and their children, were Roman Catholic!
In slavery, black humans were treated like animals; Slave masters did not allow slaves to worship God, they sang songs like “Steal a way; and Roll Jordan Roll:
“They did that in confinement; The song “steal away” was communicating to other slaves that they were planing a run-away back to Africa, or North to Canada, Nova Scotia where today do have the greatest black population in Canada.
“Roll Jordan Roll” song they were talking about the Boat they wold sail on back to Africa!
Guy don’t try to contradict me because I am academically educated as they come; and very fluent, and more than capable of expressing myself in the English language!
I had a dog name Rex: when I was a kid I my grandmother so called baptized me in Roman Catholic Church; did that make my dog Rex Catholic too?
Guy shut up!
Before you talk fart and argue with me, go get the scholastic education your parents did not give you, nor you could give to yourself.
I d not indulge in fart Co2; if you lack cognition, hence you are unable to comprehend; limit yourself to respond to things you read at your level.
What the hell love you want me to talk about; when the topic I addressed is where the submission speaks about young black men want to be Roman Catholic priest.
If you were not ignorant. you would have discovered in all that you read I simply made the point that more than a hundred years ago the Roman Catholic religion allowed a black man to become priest, so whereas this person may believe that it is only in the 21st century Blacks are becoming priest, I had to debunk that.
And by the way What about Dominican born Bowers, priest before he became bishop, served in Accra Africa all his life before becoming Bishop of Antigua!
Continue:
A priest McGirr, was very impressed by Tolton’s brilliance, mentored him, teaching him Latin, and Greek; and encouraged him to enter the priesthood. McGirr promised Augustus he would be educated; hence, he wrote letters in the U.S. to get Augustus into seminary, none accepted him because he was black!
‘Even to this day there is discrimination in Catholic religion.’ (FET). McGirr wrote letters to Rome how brilliant the individual Tolton.
In 1880, Tolton was sent to Rome where he entered the seminary at Collegium Urbanum de Propaganda Fide; six years later on the 24th of April, 1886, at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome Augustus Tolton was ordained a Roman Catholic priest.
I have more but prefer to end it by saying.
“Tolton wrote that he thought he would be sent as a missionary to Africa, but the Vatican ordered him to return to the United States.
” It was said that I would be the only priest of my race in America, and would not likely succeed.”
Woe interesting. That Vatican is and has always been dangerous to mankind, using their edicts of various Papal Bulls they have gone on to decimate not only Tolton’s kind, but the whole continent where they took Tolton family from.
So sad and outrageous that in broad daylight after europe partitioned the whole continent of Africa, the Vatican joined ther U.S to give their Congo to their Belgium friend Leopold who went on to decapitate and dismember about 10 to 12 million people, and that’s not too long ago in the 20th century.
@Gone are… it’s a well known illness called the Stockholm syndrome, taking on the identity of your captors.
That’s a bunch of hog-wash; you have a home, in Dominica multiple families live together; there should be love in the home among families unfortunately most families in Dominica are simply dysfunctional, and the reason for that is poverty and hunger!
Unemployment which causes frustration, having to deal with that under normal circumstance, is difficult.
Cooped up inside makes the situation even worst; I do not understand in what way that man is talking about improve lives at home!
Assuming one lives in a shack without running water, and toilet facilities, that might be in one area a person may try to improve their life’s by trying to install water and flush toilet.
There are other issues which may need looking after; the isolated, quarantine might be struggling to buy food!
How can a poor soul improve;life without improve economics!
Preach the word of God if you are called; stop politicking.
Improve means bring into a more desirable or excellent condition!
You are indeed lost. You say among other things in your writing.
Unemployment which causes frustration.
Assuming one lives in a shack without running water, and toilet facilities, that might be in one area a person may try to improve their life’s by trying to install water and flush toilet.
The isolated, quarantine might be struggling to buy food!
How can a poor soul improve;life without improve economics!”
Please tell us how each of these statements would apply to one such as John The Baptist, for example! How did he deal with such things as unemployment, the idea of being couped up in or with a situation, no running water nor toilet paper, being unable to buy food, improving economic situation. He moved away from it all and went to live in the wild.
But today’s church leaders love to have multitudes worshiping “them”, having their lofty titles, cars and homes. Giving big lofty talk like this! Would you or any of your brother ministers, priests, preachers etc do as…
Father Branker – “He continued, “A time-out by definition is a short break during a sports match, basketball comes to mind…where the team can get instructions from the manager or the coach, it is a time to quickly evaluate what has happened thus far and strategize to improve one’s game as to win. The goal is to win.”
Well put Father Branker. Spiritual, touches the soul and that one be kept focus on the value of life of self and everyone else.
Gods Blessings and Guidance to Everyone. Amen
So true my brother.
We need to take the negatives and suck out the positive out of it and make the very best out of it. We have been given this time in our lives for a reason. Good vibes. So many good things can come out of being in “time out”. Lets do it.
I am in full support of Father priest: I feel in my heart and somehow I know father priest would like to say more but due to circumstances and protocol he is kind of restricted. My advice to father priest , brethren do what you do best, put it in song, please, and I know you can do it. Time to call a spade a spade and to save Dominica. God continue to bless you for the ministry you have chosen, father brakes, blessings!!
Well said Fr. Branker. Now is the time to be creative