IT IS RATHER amusing, borderingon the ridiculous, for me to read in your newspaper that someone who has chosen a life of being ordained in a religious order that rules out holy matrimony that leads to the fulfilling of the following biblical directive that he quoted in the same newspaper – “be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth” – can state that the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA) must apologise to the nation for it’s success.
Are we to believe that the above biblical directive only speaks to certain people and that by becoming a priest in the religious order, and taking a vow of celibacy that Father Clement Paul has chosen, makes it okay for them to ignore that teaching?
It is very good for Father Paul to go mouthing off about people being married before having a family, but he needs to face reality and check the birth rate statistics of the nation and see what percentage of children are born to single mothers and in some cases very young teenage mothers.
Does he think that we are just going to work some magic and get all these single mothers to stop having babies, or do like him and take a vow of celibacy until they are married?
Does Father Paul not read the newspapers where we can often see mothers of six and eight children begging for help for a home and not one mention of a father?
I am sorry Father Paul and I do not mean to insult your integrity by any means, and I respect you for all the help that you must give to the poor and down trodden that probably includes many single mothers, but you need clarity on the above.
At least we agree with one thing that no money should be offered to anyone to have more babies.
I will just like to close with this. Children should only be brought into this world when someone has made the consideration as to how that child can be properly provided for and given the love and comfort that is needed to help that child become a good citizen, whether the mother is single or not. With that said, there is definitely a place for the BFPA.
– ANNETTE LASHLEY
