Dear Editor,

On April 1st, 2018, Roman Catholics in Santa Rosa and throughout the country celebrated the bicentenary of the establishment of the Catholic Church in that region. The history of the Catholic Mission to the Amerindians in Guyana actually began in Venezuela. According to ethnohistory, in April 1818, the Bolivar revolution in Venezuela against Spanish rule was taking place. There were Amerindian peoples in the Orinoco, in Venezuela, under the religious care of an order of Catholic priests who remained loyal to Spain.

This made them vulnerable to attacks from those supporting the Bolivar revolution. Indeed this is what happened. Many of the priests were killed and Amerindian villages were pillaged. Rather than remain under such conditions, the Amerindians who survived made their escape eastward into British Guiana and settled in Moruca, thus constituting for the first time a formal presence of the Catholic Church at Mariaba, an indigenous toponym which means ‘guava’ in the Arawak language. These fruits were abundant in the area during the time of the 'Spanish Indians’ arrival. Later Mariaba was renamed Saint Rose of Lima, patroness of Latin America. She was a consecrated indigenous mestiza of the Dominican Third Order.

After their arrival the group established themselves among the local people, who were not Christian and who inhabited the area. Juan Aguilar, also known as John, a lay person who was one of the refugees, became the first captain of Santa Rosa, teaching catechism to the people and together with the community built a chapel.

The British who ruled over this territory granted these refugees shelter and permission to stay on because they perceived them as being Christians. So, the refugees legally settled in 1822 and practised their Catholic faith in their new homeland.

In this historical context, there exists a unique aspect which needs to be highlighted, where Catholicism was not imposed on the Amerindian people during the time of the conquest in Guyana, but rather the Catholic faith was introduced to the ancestors of the early Moruca people in Venezuela by the Capuchin missionaries, and the Amerindians who escaped Venezuela brought Catholicism to Santa Rosa.

By incorporating the Catholic Church into the Morucan peoples’ cosmovision 200 years ago, it became a metaphorical maternal reference. A significant service which the church provided, just like a mother who touches all aspects of the lives of her children, was improving their spiritual and social welfare, but more especially their academic background, with the establishment of the first Catholic primary school in 1880.

The education apostolate greatly enhanced the lives of the people of Moruca and produced renowned Morucans grounded in sound moral values and Christian teaching. For example Stephen Campbell and the other earlier leaders were men and women of principle and great leadership skills.

Besides these, the Santa Rosa Community also produced outstanding persons such as government ministers, politicians, nuns and other religious persons. Also, there are at least three ordained Anglican priests who have links to Moruca and are serving their flocks in different parts of Guyana.

The Santa Rosa Catholic Church also contributed to the indigenous people of the Rupununi where they served as catechists and teachers who taught in the primary schools. Mr Stephen Campbell, Guyana’s first Amerindian Member of Parliament, was among the first pioneers who served as catechists in the village of Sawariwau in the South Rupununi among the Wapichans.

Under generous, hard-working persons like him and others who came later, along with the local indigenous teachers of the Rupununi, primary education flourished. It was an education grounded in Christian values and academics, and it produced brilliant Amerindians and prepared them for the advent of Guyana’s independence and beyond.

However, over the years the Catholic Church in Santa Rosa has itself undergone transformations from being the dominant one, to now trying to work with other Churches in the community. There are several other Christian groups that have been established and are growing in numbers in Moruca. At the same time the population has increased to approximately ten thousand, making it one of the oldest and biggest in terms of population size in the interior of Guyana.

The introduction of new ideas and experiences brought changes to the local culture and many challenges as well. In spite of this, many devoted Catholics have remained faithful to the Church while others have sought other paths, but live in understanding and harmony with each other.

Editor, given this trajectory of Catholicism and the people of Santa Rosa Moruca, I would like to congratulate them for celebrating 200 years of the Catholic faith which was held on April 1st 2018 and which is celebrated with various activities throughout this week.

The people’s presence at mass last Sunday reflected their strong faith which was well attended by the residents and others who came for the celebration. In retrospect, Catholicism in Santa Rosa, became part of the people’s heritage in Moruca. It serves for most Morucans as their second home where they get their spiritual upliftment to continue life’s challenges and successes.

In concluding, it is a joy to look back and reflect on how the Catholic Church has contributed positively to the lives of the Morucans, while also recognizing its faults. The good has overweighed the bad by far!

A happy and a blessed Bicenterary celebration of Catholicism to all at Santa Rosa!

Yours faithfully,

Medino Abraham

         History of the Catholic Church in the South Rupununi (1)

The South Rupununi village of Sawariwau will celebrate its centenary on December 1st, 2019. Medino Abraham had done a three-part series on the history of the church in the South Rupununi.

The Church of England was first established in Pirara in 1838, but was destroyed by Brazilian border troops, because Brazil being a Catholic nation was not happy with the Protestant Church of England establishing its headquarters at the other side of the unsettled border in British Guiana. 

After a long time, in 1907 the Anglican Mission recommenced in Yupukari North of the Rupununi. According to oral narratives, “it was the Anglican missionaries that invited the Catholics/Jesuit missionaries to go to Central Rupununi to establish a mission there in 1909 on the border with Brazil; because earlier the people living in Central area used to go to North Rupununi to attend church there”.

Brazil being a Catholic nation, felt it was for the British authorities in British Guiana to establish Catholicism in the South and be on par with their counterparts in Brazil to avoid previous negative experiences between Catholic versus Protestant like what occurred earlier at Pirara.

Hence, from there onwards the Catholic church in British Guiana through the British Jesuits established their headquarters for the Rupununi Mission at Ariwa - modern day St. Ignatius.

Prior to settling the border issue between British Guiana and Brazil in 1904, the Brazilians were in back and forth discussions with the British authorities to have the two nations border fixed. The British wanted their territory to commence from Rio Branco in Roraima, and the Brazilians wanted theirs to be from the Rupununi River in British Guiana. In the midst of this controversy the King of Italy intervened and settled the border between the two national states in 1904, establishing the international border at the Takutu and Ireng Rivers that divides Guyana and Brazil.

Five years later in 1909 the British Jesuits established their mission head-quarter at the right bank of the Takutu River. From this base the pioneer priest Father Cary-Elwes began the work of visiting the many scattered communities and introducing the gospel to the Macushi, Wapichan and Patamona people.

          Fr. Carey Elwes with indigenous children in the Rupununi (Photo: Arrupe house archive).

John Bridges, the Jesuit historian who documented the activities of Fr. Cary Elwes from his diaries, highlighted that his early missionary activities to the Indigenous people consisted of contacting small groups to catechize them. The pioneer missionary also used appropriate methods to capture the peoples´ sensitivity such as songs and music to convey their biblical messages. Subsequently, he invited the people to be baptized and encouraged them to build chapels in their villages (Bridges, 1985).

Bridges, in his further analysis of Cary Elwes’ activities, related that the priest had a special dedication to his work, where he visited the people who did not attend Church. There he understood many of their ancestral religious traditions. The missionary also left information for the leaders he perceived had influence over the others.

These activities of Father Cary Elwes for 13 years had an impact on the life of Indigenous Communities in the Rupununi Mission, seeing the missionary as a "prophet,” and accepting that the Christian names he chose for their children at baptism were an identity from heaven.

When his health was weakened because of the laborious life he lived in the hot climate of the region without much care of himself, the indigenist Missionary from the frontier of Guyana with Brazil was taken by his fellow Jesuits to Georgetown in May 1923. To his deep regret, he was never able to return and Fr Henry Mather replaced him at St. Ignatius.

From such courageous and ground-breaking efforts by the early British Jesuits in making contact with the Indigenous People through evangelization in the interior of Guyana, the Rupununi and Pakaraimas missions were founded and considered the church’s great success of Christianity to the indigenous people for the twentieth century.

Thus, over the years as Catholicism developed in the mission many communities were founded in places where some Indigenous people were already living.

The people traditionally did not build their villages in places that flooded because they needed healthy places to live and establish their farms and these insightful observations by the missionaries helped with the effectiveness of the mission.

They chose solid places for the establishment of villages, some close to forest and some close to the border at the Takutu River.

This process of establishing villages ultimately served the purpose of assimilating the Macushis, Wapichans and Patamonas into the wider national society of then British Guiana. Through baptism the church initiated official documentation of the indigenous population to central Government as its citizens.

              History of the Catholic Church in the South Rupununi (II)

Although the early missionary activities to the indigenous people was to convert them to Christianity, which transformed some elements of their traditional cultures, the Jesuits also possessed a broad vision of Mission in their establishment where care was showed for the welfare of the people, like a father who cares about all aspects of his family. They offered significant social services to the people of the Rupununi.

Church documents recorded that from the 1940s, the Catholic Church through the Jesuits assisted the colonial Government in establishing and administering a network of Primary Schools. Jesuit educator, Father Bernard McKenna, played an important role in the establishment of primary schools in the interior. To assist him in the education service, he recruited a large number of Arawak teachers from the community of Santa Rosa, Moruca for these institutions.

Father McKenna operated from the Wapichan community of Sand Creek, where he was the priest responsible for the missionary work among the Wapichans in the South of the Rupununi, while Father John Quigley worked with the Macushis in central Rupununi and Father Wilson-Brown with the Patamonas in the Pakaraimas. During this time, health care also had special attention from the Jesuits, were it was rendered by the Jesuit medical doctor Father ‘Doc’ Loretz, from the hospital built under his direction in Aishalton.

The network of primary schools was handed over to the independent government in 1970, when the state closed the church-run schools and took responsibility for providing education services throughout the country. Faced with this new situation in the Mission, the Jesuits opted for a new approach in their evangelization process to the indigenous people and being in the post-independence era, the next apostolic work was focused on training local church leaders (lay vocations) to be catechists and Parish Lay Assistants (PLA s) who assisted priests in their activities and ecclesial ministries in the Rupununi.

In concluding, in the communities the result of the above new initiative was remarkable where the lives of the people are not priest centered, but are rooted in a rich and diversified way in all villages. The day-to-day activities of the Church are commonly performed by "Parish Lay Assistants" (PLAs). Moreover, it is also notable that the leaders of the local Church have various advantages over priests in ministerial collaboration, for they live with the people, share their social and cultural life, know their customs and traditions in depth, thus better understand their problems and struggles. 

A church procession in the Rupununi 

                       Sawariwau to celebrate centenary on December 1^st

Given its history with the entry of Catholic Church in 1919, Sawariwau at present is said to be the oldest Wapichan Village in the South Rupununi this year 2019. From there Catholicism apparently spread to other Wapichan communities. The village is located 14 miles South West of Dadanawa ranch, 70 miles South of Lethem and 21 miles east of the Brazilian border at the Takutu River. The village is comprised of 548 families, all of whom declared themselves Catholics and who speak their local language Wapichan; English, the national language; and some Portuguese.

When I asked a villager why Sawariwau has remained a Catholic Wapichan community for all these years, his response was “our ancestors were baptised and became Catholics and that belief and tradition they left us to continue. That is why we are maintaining it. The elder leaders like former toshaos along with villagers over the years have also made agreement only to have one church in the village as a form to respect the ancestors’ legacy. That is why Sawariwau is still Catholic up to today and will continue to be onwards”.

        Newly built church benab at Sawariwau ( Photo: Imaculata Casimero).

Given that the Catholic Church is the only one in the village for one hundred years, it is good to know that the church did not kill the language and customs of the people for all this time. The people speak their local language very strongly along with English and are proud indigenous Catholics. This is a great blessing for the church and the Wapichans.

To celebrate these and other blessings, the villagers will have a series of activities - a significant one being the inauguration of the new church benab for the grand celebration on December 1st, 2019. Other activities for the celebration include a procession - walking and praying the rosary and singing - from Pirazanaawa the place where the first building was located, which is five miles to the village centre. This activity will be held on the afternoon of Saturday November 30th, after which there will be a cultural presentation   reflecting on the missionary works of Fr. Carey Elwes  done by the villagers.

On Sunday December 1st, at nine o´clock in the morning, there will be the blessing and opening of the new church followed by Holy Mass which will be celebrated by his Lordship Bishop Francis Alleyne OSB and the priests of the area. During the Mass there will also be confirmation of about 30 young people. 

                  History of Sawariwau Catholic Church ( 111)

Ethnohistory from some elders of the community and documents of the church (Bridges 1985; Pierre 1994) related that the first church building was established at Pirazanaawa, which means Agoti grandfather hill in Pawishian language.[1] It is located approximately four miles northwest from the central area of Sawariwau. In 1919 after the visit of Fr Karey Elwes SJ to evangelise the first inhabitants of the area. A leader Johnson by name was instrumental in erecting the building with the people. The church subsequently was given the name St. John Berchmans.  

Apparently from 1919 to 1928 there was a severe shortage of water at the nearby creek at Pirazanaawa. This situation made the inhabitants moved to another location called Shawari-wao named given after the palm trees that were found in abundance at the nearby creek. Thus, Shawari-a reef of palm trees and wao- creek or water. Later it was given the new name Sawariwau.  Most people in the village know of this popular version of history of the community.[2]

The second church building constructed in 1928 at Sawariwau was called “The Big Church”. Baptism records from the Catholic church of the area gave names of the people baptised from 1925 onwards at St. John Berchmans by Dom Odilon Munding Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B) vice general of the Prelazia Rio Branco, Brazil ( Baptism register 1925-1936. St. Robert Bellarmine RC. Church, Aishalton).

Sawariwau is located 14 miles south west of Dadanawa ranch, 70 miles south of Lethem and 21miles east of the Brazilian border at the Takutu river. The village is comprised of 548 families all of whom declared themselves "Catholics". They speak their local language Wapichan, English and some Portugues.

1st church building at Pirazanaawa 1919.

2nd building at present place in Sawariwau 1928.[3]

3rd building at present place in 1957.

4th building at present place1995.

5th building at present place 2019.

Reference

Bridges, John SJ. Rupununi Mission. The Story of Cuthberth Cary-Elwes SJ among the Indians of Guiana 1909-1923. Jesuit Missions, London. 1985.

Baptism register. 1925-1936. St. Robert Bellarmine RC. Church, Aishalton.

Pierre, L. Stephen Campbell. The evolution of an Amerindian Political advocate in a Colonial State. History Gazette. Turkeyen, 1994.

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[1] The Wapichan researchers Angelbert Johnny et al, related that the early inhabitants at Pirazanaawa were a subgroup of Wapichans called the Pawishians.

[2] In recent times local Wapichan researchers in the community gave another version of how the village got its name. According to them the original name is “Shawarowáoro in Pawishian language. It means fish grandfather which is in the form of a huge rock found at the source of the river that passes through the village. Subsequently Shawarowáoro changed its spelling to Sawariwau.

[3] Baptism records showed that people began to be baptised by the Jesuit, Mayo SJ in 1926 and later in 1928 by William Keary SJ) at St. John Berchmans.

  Village elder Epiphania Atkinson reflects on life in Santa Rosa

Mrs Epiphania Atkinson at her home at

Kumaka, Moruca (Photo: Medino Abraham)

I thought of sharing with the Catholic Standard about Mrs. Epiphania Atkinson, a devout Catholic who is also the widow of one of Moruca´s long standing leaders, Mr. John Atkinson, who died about eight years ago.

Mrs. Atkinson is now 83 years and lives at Kumaka, Moruca. She narrated the following: “I have seven children three girls and four boys. Out of these, one daughter Desiree by name became an Ursuline religious sister. However, she died in the year 2000 in Trinidad”. Good to know that Moruca produced another religious sister. May her soul rest in peace!

‘Aunty Appie’, as she is commonly known by Morucans, mentioned that her late husband Mr. John Atkinson was the captain for the Santa Rosa community for 12 years. She recalled that her husband came from a very strong Catholic family. She said that ‘Uncle John’, as he was known by the people, was a catechist before he became captain of Santa Rosa Village. Having this experience, Mrs. Atkinson believes, served as the cornerstone to his Christian belief and contributed to his strong leadership as Toshao of one of the biggest Amerindian communities in Guyana. She noted that since he possessed good leadership values and skills, most persons in the Santa Rosa community always wanted him to be the captain. According to her, “they used to ask him over and over to be their village leader. He was a well-respected person and had great love for the Catholic Church and God. He attended Mass or Service every Sunday”. She recalled him being a prayerful person too. This practice his wife Mrs. Atkinson still continues.

Close to Mrs. Atkinson´s house at Kumaka Landing, there is a small chapel where she and a group of persons from the surrounding area meet regularly to pray the Holy Rosary on Tuesday afternoons. She lamented that only a small amount of people go to pray the rosary and that hardly any youths attend. She would like to see the young people come and pray with them.

When asked about the Catholic Church in Moruca, she said that it is at a stand-still, meaning that not as many people go these days. People do not seem to be interested in church worship. Not like long ago. Maybe because over the years things have changed in Moruca. There are a lot of bars and other social activities that attract the majority of the young people. So they don’t find Church as interesting as before.

Mrs. Atkinson recalled that when she was a young woman, people used to pray the rosary a lot in their homes and engage in church relativities, but not now. She stressed that “there is need for young the ones to be interested in church activities like before”. She feels that the changes happening in Moruca are both for the good and the bad. However, there is need to keep the balance, but for the good to always prevail, she feels.

Mrs. Atkinson said that Morucans need to pray and teach the young ones the faith by example. They should also make intercessory prayers to Our Lady to encourage and bring back those who have lost track of church. Because of this, she said, the young generation is getting way ward and more sinful.

She also said, “that there is also need for healing of divisions in the community. People need to put differences aside and move on. This could be done by prayers, confession and forgiveness”.  She commented that the local village leaders should set the example for young people like her husband used to do, by going to church regularly and attending prayer sessions with the people. He also used to work hard to promote unity among the people in the community. She said if the young saw their leaders doing this, they would practice the same.

Mrs. Atkinson hopes and prays that the Santa Rosa Community could go back to its sober and church oriented days where Church teachings were adhered to and practiced by the people.

May Saint Rose of Lima and Our Lady intercede for Morucans, Amen!