The feast of Saint
John at Santa Rosa and Catholic laity in the interior
The Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Church (Photo courtesy of Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs)
The 24th of June annually is a special day to commemorate at Santa Rosa Moruca. It’s the feast of Saint John the Baptist the great evangelist and forerunner of Christ. On St. John’s day in 1823 the sacerdote Fr. Hynes arrived at Mariaba (modern Santa Rosa) from Georgetown upon request from the group of early Morucans who arrived there in 1818 escaping from the Simon Bolivar war in Venezuela. Upon the priest’s arrival at Mariaba the people welcomed their new John the Baptist Fr. Hynes, with bamboo firing which signified joy and happiness as the manifestation of the catholic faith in their new homeland.
As Morucans reminisce and pay tribute to their ancestors' welcome gesture to their priest, on the feast of Saint John on June 24th some 200 years ago, I would like to highlight two important aspects of Morucans and the Catholic Church. The first is: the introduction of Catholicism to Guyanese Indigenous Amerindians began by the early “Spanish Arawaks” as they were called, who were assimilated by Spanish missionaries in neighboring Venezuela prior to their arrival to “British Territory” in 1818. This brief history reflects a different Christianizing process by the church to indigenous peoples in Guyana, when comparing same to other modern nation-states in the Americas; where the church approach was brutal to the natives and the bible and sword were used to convert them.
The other aspect is the reality of laity in the Catholic
Church in Amerindian communities in Guyana. This great gift began as is
highlighted above with the first group of “Spanish Arawaks” when they arrived
at Santa Rosa practicing the catholic faith for several years without a priest.
They remained strong and united in hearts and minds as a minority group in a
Protestant / Anglican state of British Guiana until with their prayerful request; they received a priest to attend their sacramental needs.
The lay-led church practice from Santa Rosa later expanded to other parts of the interior mainly to the Pakaraimas and the
Rupununi regions. Thus, this is an important gift of the peoples’ faith to
maintain and value as part of our worldview of Catholicism in Indigenous
communities, in the interior of Guyana.
Acknowledging this blessing of Indigenous Amerindian laity in
the church along with the sacramental and spiritual service of the priests who are accompanying them, it is pivotal that the two continue to be balanced as both complement
each other in Catholicism in the interior; which brings people nearer to
Christ.
In concluding, on the feast of Saint John the Baptist we beseeched
him to intercede and pray for Morucans and Catholics of the interior to
continue to strive in the catholic faith, and for the laity to have more
generous and humble young men and women coming forth to work for the Lord in
this part of the vineyard in Guyana, Lord hear us!
Happy feast of Saint John to all!
