Fr Bowleg quits Anglican Church
By KARIN HERIG
kherig@tribunemedia.net:
FATHER Etienne Bowleg has renounced all allegiance as a priest of the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos with immediate effect, Bishop Laish Boyd informed his clergy.
In an unprecedented move in the diocese of the West Indian province, Bishop Boyd stated that Father Bowleg, the former rector of the Holy Trinity Church, informed him of his decision by letter on May 17.
"I accept his renunciation and have acknowledged the same in writing.
"This means that by his own choice, intent and assertion Father Bowleg no longer holds a licence to function in this diocese," Bishop Laish said in a memorandum to the Anglican clergy this week.
This comes just weeks after a protracted court battle involving Father Bowleg and the Anglican Archdiocese came to an end.
In March, Senior Justice Jon Isaacs lifted an injunction that prohibited the removal of Father Bowleg as rector of the Most Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Stapledon Gardens.
Just hours after the ruling, locksmiths were busy on the church grounds changing the locks.
The court battle stemmed from a dispute that had arisen over Father Bowleg's contention that he is 64 years old, although with a 1937 birth certificate, he is recognised by the Anglican Diocese as being 72 - two years beyond the mandatory retirement age for Anglican priests.
Normally, the retirement age of Anglican priests is 65, but the bishop can extend that limit by another five years.
However, under church law, the absolute maximum age for a priest to be allowed to serve is 70.
Bishop Boyd described Father Bowleg's renunciation as a "sad and serious occurrence in the life of the Diocese of the (West Indian) province."
"It is unprecedented in that it comes at the culmination of a chain of events and actions that were disrespectful to, hostile toward and adversarial against the diocese," he said.
Bishop Boyd said he takes the decision to mean that Father Bowleg has renounced fellowship with the Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Province of the West Indies and all other dioceses and provinces that are in communion with the See of Canterbury, meaning the worldwide Anglican Communion.
"This is the obvious conclusion to the drawn, since, if he were continuing with the Anglican Communion and transferring to another diocese his proper course of action would have been to have asked for letters of commendatory. Up to this point no request for such documentation has been submitted," the bishop said on Wednesday.
Bishop Boyd further wished to impress the seriousness of Father Bowleg's renunciation on the Anglican clergy.
"The lack of a General Licence means that Father Bowleg is not allowed to function - officiate, celebrate, preach, vest, process, sit in the chancel or sit in the sanctuary - at any service or event of the diocese or the province, or under the auspices of the diocese or the province.
"All of the courtesies normally extended to one of our clergy can no longer be extended to him," he said.
"Of course he is welcome to worship in any our services or to attend any of our events as such would be open to all persons who wish to attend same.
"We continue to bear him all goodwill, Christian charity and the prayerful support that we offer to all people," Bishop Boyd added.
The Tribune was unable to reach Father Bowleg for comment yesterday before press time.
Father Bowleg last year also experienced familial challenges when is son, Etienne Bowleg Jr, was charged with 12 offences in connection with a high-speed police chase. These charges include possession of an illegal firearm with the intent to endanger life and causing damage to a police vehicle.
The matter is ongoing before the courts.
May 29, 2010
tribune242
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Showing posts with label Bishop Laish Boyd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bishop Laish Boyd. Show all posts
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Bishop Laish Boyd Gambles Wrong on Gambling In The Bahamas
By Dennis Dames:
I write in response to the Anglican Church’s position on legalizing the numbers business in The Bahamas that was expressed recently by Bishop Laish Boyd.
The Bishop said that: “By enacting legislation legalizing numbers, the government would be "opening the floodgates" to the lowering of standards and values, and it would be doing so for financial reasons, so that it can make money from the numbers business".
He stated further in a pastoral letter dated May 12 that: "In short, it promotes values that are harmful to the moral fiber of our communities. It would be a mistake to affirm this subculture by legalizing it at a time when there are so many negative influences on the society, and when our community is suffering from a lack of values".
"In matters of this kind the government has the constitutional and moral responsibility to protect the value base of the country".
"Many persons who play numbers regularly become obsessed with finding the right number and wait anxiously to see which number will fall. It becomes a consuming force, often dictating every other area of that person's life. Most Christian moralists agree that the real danger in gambling lies exactly in this kind of excess".
"Persons who can ill afford to are often the biggest users, abusers, and losers," Boyd said. "It forms a false and unreliable foundation upon which to base one's personal finances. It encourages what seems to be a short cut approach to financial security rather than through the principles of Christian or other forms of stewardship”.
"It preys on those who cannot discipline themselves in these areas. Often there is a higher call to the funds used, i.e., persons need to spend that money on more basic and important things, but do not".
"It goes against the principles of Christian stewardship. Life cannot be simply about chance where so many people lose and only a few win. This is what the numbers game typifies. We need to be promoting culture and activities that are based on planning and productivity, purpose and positive advancement. Stewardship calls us to acknowledge what we have, and to build on it constructively and incrementally to accomplish higher goals".
"To argue that such a law cannot be enforced is to recognize that some of the things that we say about ourselves are sadly true; in other words, how can we enforce it by an across the board multi-agency, multi-department effort when too many of our best beloved citizens are lazy, dishonest, unwilling to do a full day's work for a full day's pay, unwilling to stand for principle, too willing to look the other way, too easily bought for a few dollars, and are prepared to accept mediocrity".
"In spite of the widespread acceptance of playing numbers, the Anglican Church opposes it, never mind how many persons see no harm in legalizing it. In spite of how many persons there are who support it, we say that such would be a bad move for the moral fabric of our society and far more devastating in its long-term effects than any monetary or taxation advantage that can be gained in the short-term".
I really don’t understand the Bishop’s logic and sense of reasoning in this instance. How moral is it to have gambling legalized for tourists in The Bahamas, and not for Bahamians?
How moral is it to have an unconstitutional law on our books that sanctions casino gambling for guests of our country, and not for Bahamians?
How moral is it to allow the illegal numbers business in The Bahamas to flourish for decades unabated and virtually unchallenged, and to the point of no return - because of protection and condonation in high places; and to suddenly wake up on day and say it’s immoral to make a wrong right?
This is a secular society Bishop, and the government has a duty to do the right things in the interest of the people and the social order. The time has come to legalize the culture of number buying and gambling generally in The Bahamas. It’s the decent thing to do Bishop and the majority of the Bahamian public agrees with it in my view.
We all need to take responsibility for our actions, and be wise in our daily living. If the man who works all week wants to drink out his pay – that’s his business; if he wants to gamble it out, so be it.
If he wants to spend it all on women – that’s his prerogative. If a woman who works all month wants to buy clothes and shoes with her salary – then let her live with her new attire Bishop.
Yes Bishop, we all will have to account eventually for our deeds; and Jesus Christ did not come here to overthrow the worldly authority. My understanding of Christ’s mission here on earth – is to offer us a better way and eternal life in his name.
He did not come here to tell us what to do or how to live, because free choice is God’s greatest gift to man in my opinion. Therefore, no bishop, priest, rabbi and so on are ethically qualified to dictate to a people on how they should live.
Rather, the sharing and dispersion of the good news of Jesus Christ should be their focus.
If the church in The Bahamas was spiritually, socially and morally effective, we would have a more peaceful, respectable and civilly upright society. We appear to have a nation of mullahs and ayatollahs who want to tell us how to govern our society and life.
The Bishop and other prominent religious leaders in The Bahamas are on the wrong tract as it relates to the work of God; because Jesus Christ has stated that his kingdom is not of this world. Preach and demonstrate the good news of the gospels, and render to Caesar all that’s Caesar’s Bishop.
We the people want to gamble legally in our beloved country and we want our government to facilitate this. Amen.
May 21, 2010
Bahamas Blog International
I write in response to the Anglican Church’s position on legalizing the numbers business in The Bahamas that was expressed recently by Bishop Laish Boyd.
The Bishop said that: “By enacting legislation legalizing numbers, the government would be "opening the floodgates" to the lowering of standards and values, and it would be doing so for financial reasons, so that it can make money from the numbers business".
He stated further in a pastoral letter dated May 12 that: "In short, it promotes values that are harmful to the moral fiber of our communities. It would be a mistake to affirm this subculture by legalizing it at a time when there are so many negative influences on the society, and when our community is suffering from a lack of values".
"In matters of this kind the government has the constitutional and moral responsibility to protect the value base of the country".
"Many persons who play numbers regularly become obsessed with finding the right number and wait anxiously to see which number will fall. It becomes a consuming force, often dictating every other area of that person's life. Most Christian moralists agree that the real danger in gambling lies exactly in this kind of excess".
"Persons who can ill afford to are often the biggest users, abusers, and losers," Boyd said. "It forms a false and unreliable foundation upon which to base one's personal finances. It encourages what seems to be a short cut approach to financial security rather than through the principles of Christian or other forms of stewardship”.
"It preys on those who cannot discipline themselves in these areas. Often there is a higher call to the funds used, i.e., persons need to spend that money on more basic and important things, but do not".
"It goes against the principles of Christian stewardship. Life cannot be simply about chance where so many people lose and only a few win. This is what the numbers game typifies. We need to be promoting culture and activities that are based on planning and productivity, purpose and positive advancement. Stewardship calls us to acknowledge what we have, and to build on it constructively and incrementally to accomplish higher goals".
"To argue that such a law cannot be enforced is to recognize that some of the things that we say about ourselves are sadly true; in other words, how can we enforce it by an across the board multi-agency, multi-department effort when too many of our best beloved citizens are lazy, dishonest, unwilling to do a full day's work for a full day's pay, unwilling to stand for principle, too willing to look the other way, too easily bought for a few dollars, and are prepared to accept mediocrity".
"In spite of the widespread acceptance of playing numbers, the Anglican Church opposes it, never mind how many persons see no harm in legalizing it. In spite of how many persons there are who support it, we say that such would be a bad move for the moral fabric of our society and far more devastating in its long-term effects than any monetary or taxation advantage that can be gained in the short-term".
I really don’t understand the Bishop’s logic and sense of reasoning in this instance. How moral is it to have gambling legalized for tourists in The Bahamas, and not for Bahamians?
How moral is it to have an unconstitutional law on our books that sanctions casino gambling for guests of our country, and not for Bahamians?
How moral is it to allow the illegal numbers business in The Bahamas to flourish for decades unabated and virtually unchallenged, and to the point of no return - because of protection and condonation in high places; and to suddenly wake up on day and say it’s immoral to make a wrong right?
This is a secular society Bishop, and the government has a duty to do the right things in the interest of the people and the social order. The time has come to legalize the culture of number buying and gambling generally in The Bahamas. It’s the decent thing to do Bishop and the majority of the Bahamian public agrees with it in my view.
We all need to take responsibility for our actions, and be wise in our daily living. If the man who works all week wants to drink out his pay – that’s his business; if he wants to gamble it out, so be it.
If he wants to spend it all on women – that’s his prerogative. If a woman who works all month wants to buy clothes and shoes with her salary – then let her live with her new attire Bishop.
Yes Bishop, we all will have to account eventually for our deeds; and Jesus Christ did not come here to overthrow the worldly authority. My understanding of Christ’s mission here on earth – is to offer us a better way and eternal life in his name.
He did not come here to tell us what to do or how to live, because free choice is God’s greatest gift to man in my opinion. Therefore, no bishop, priest, rabbi and so on are ethically qualified to dictate to a people on how they should live.
Rather, the sharing and dispersion of the good news of Jesus Christ should be their focus.
If the church in The Bahamas was spiritually, socially and morally effective, we would have a more peaceful, respectable and civilly upright society. We appear to have a nation of mullahs and ayatollahs who want to tell us how to govern our society and life.
The Bishop and other prominent religious leaders in The Bahamas are on the wrong tract as it relates to the work of God; because Jesus Christ has stated that his kingdom is not of this world. Preach and demonstrate the good news of the gospels, and render to Caesar all that’s Caesar’s Bishop.
We the people want to gamble legally in our beloved country and we want our government to facilitate this. Amen.
May 21, 2010
Bahamas Blog International
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Anglican Bishop Rev Laish Boyd speaks out against the 'Numbers business' in The Bahamas
Anglican Bishop speaks out against gambling
By ALESHA CADET - tribune242:
ONE of the largest religious denominations in the Bahamas has officially spoken out against the proposed legalisation of gambling.
In a statement issued this week, Anglican Bishop Rev Laish Boyd said the church "does not support any plan to legalise the 'Numbers business' in the Bahamas with a view to taxing the proceeds of that business. In spite of the widespread acceptance of playing numbers, the Anglican Church opposes it, never mind how many persons see no harm in legalising it."
According to the pro-gambling Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee (BGR), Bishop Boyd's position is "hypocritical" because the church itself organises raffles and other prize games.
Responding to the statement yesterday, Sidney Strachan, chairman of (BGR) , said: "The Anglican Church is being hypocritical with the statement made saying the government shouldn't use gambling as a source of revenue for the country.
"When the Anglican Church needed money they themselves turned to gambling; when they got desperate that is what they turned to. The Anglican Church offers prizes for raffling."
But Bishop Boyd said that to explain the church's position, "we need to look for a moment at the term 'gambling'. Gambling is a broad subject area encompassing games or activities involving some risk with the potential for granting an advantage to the person or persons who 'play' or are involved.
"Some persons condemn all forms of this activity. There are others who tolerate them in varying degrees. For example, many persons have no difficulty with raffles and door prizes, or with a game of bingo. These are isolated and individual events which are usually held for fundraising and charitable causes.
Raffle
"Bahamians and Turks and Caicos Islanders will buy a raffle ticket, or a door prize ticket at an event, and give no second thought to it; they see it as harmless, as I believe these involvements to be.
"It is this reasoning that let the 108th session of our Diocesan Synod meeting in October, 2008, to approve the allowance of raffles by our Anglican Schools as a means of fundraising. This came after many years of a moratorium on the holding of raffles in the diocese that was put in place during the time of Bishop Michael Eldon."
The bishop said that Numbers, on the other hand, "is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week enterprise in which persons engage and which is definitely habit-forming and downright addictive for a majority of its participants. It is a system which is designed to exploit the participants so that the few will benefit at the expense of the many. "The modern-day reality is that this form of gambling is easily accessible to all via the internet, via numerous 'web shops' and via other means. Persons can play with as little as 10 cents. This easy access leads to widespread use by persons of all ages, classes, backgrounds and socio-economic standings.
"Why do we stand as a church opposed to its legalisation and subsequent taxation? It is a matter of morality and of the moral responsibility which leaders have for those whom they lead."
However, Mr Strachan said that the church has yet to prove that gambling has had a negative impact on morals in any way.
"The Numbers business has provided more jobs and charitable donations over the last 40 years. If the government uses numbers for a worthy cause then that too should be justifiable," Mr Strachan said.
May 19, 2010
tribune242
By ALESHA CADET - tribune242:
ONE of the largest religious denominations in the Bahamas has officially spoken out against the proposed legalisation of gambling.
In a statement issued this week, Anglican Bishop Rev Laish Boyd said the church "does not support any plan to legalise the 'Numbers business' in the Bahamas with a view to taxing the proceeds of that business. In spite of the widespread acceptance of playing numbers, the Anglican Church opposes it, never mind how many persons see no harm in legalising it."
According to the pro-gambling Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee (BGR), Bishop Boyd's position is "hypocritical" because the church itself organises raffles and other prize games.
Responding to the statement yesterday, Sidney Strachan, chairman of (BGR) , said: "The Anglican Church is being hypocritical with the statement made saying the government shouldn't use gambling as a source of revenue for the country.
"When the Anglican Church needed money they themselves turned to gambling; when they got desperate that is what they turned to. The Anglican Church offers prizes for raffling."
But Bishop Boyd said that to explain the church's position, "we need to look for a moment at the term 'gambling'. Gambling is a broad subject area encompassing games or activities involving some risk with the potential for granting an advantage to the person or persons who 'play' or are involved.
"Some persons condemn all forms of this activity. There are others who tolerate them in varying degrees. For example, many persons have no difficulty with raffles and door prizes, or with a game of bingo. These are isolated and individual events which are usually held for fundraising and charitable causes.
Raffle
"Bahamians and Turks and Caicos Islanders will buy a raffle ticket, or a door prize ticket at an event, and give no second thought to it; they see it as harmless, as I believe these involvements to be.
"It is this reasoning that let the 108th session of our Diocesan Synod meeting in October, 2008, to approve the allowance of raffles by our Anglican Schools as a means of fundraising. This came after many years of a moratorium on the holding of raffles in the diocese that was put in place during the time of Bishop Michael Eldon."
The bishop said that Numbers, on the other hand, "is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week enterprise in which persons engage and which is definitely habit-forming and downright addictive for a majority of its participants. It is a system which is designed to exploit the participants so that the few will benefit at the expense of the many. "The modern-day reality is that this form of gambling is easily accessible to all via the internet, via numerous 'web shops' and via other means. Persons can play with as little as 10 cents. This easy access leads to widespread use by persons of all ages, classes, backgrounds and socio-economic standings.
"Why do we stand as a church opposed to its legalisation and subsequent taxation? It is a matter of morality and of the moral responsibility which leaders have for those whom they lead."
However, Mr Strachan said that the church has yet to prove that gambling has had a negative impact on morals in any way.
"The Numbers business has provided more jobs and charitable donations over the last 40 years. If the government uses numbers for a worthy cause then that too should be justifiable," Mr Strachan said.
May 19, 2010
tribune242
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