One of the new features of Tuesday’s Careers Day Fair, held by the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School in conjunction with the Department of Education, on Tuesday, was a religious booth manned by a number of church pastors.
The first booth was manned by Pastor James Harrigan of the No Walls Church in The Quarter, assisted by his brother, John Harrigan. “We are affiliated with Pastor Dexter Welcome of the Dominion Faith Centre who is actually the person who organised this as part of the Careers Day activities and contacted us,” Pastor Harrigan said. “We are here in our capacity of directing children in the ways of ministry. We realise that the Kingdom of God needs people to work especially in these days, and the onus is on us to get them involved, particularly children, to help them to find their way and a career direction that would enable them to serve God and enrich their spiritual lives.”
Pastor Harrigan’s brother, John, who runs New Beginning Radio at Shoal Bay, one of a of local religious broadcasting stations in Anguilla, commented: “We are here as a representation of the various churches because I believe it was not practical to have every church represented at one time; so different ministers will be coming in through the day as well.”
One of the matters which came up at the booth was the question of religious education in the schools. Pastor Harrigan expressed his opinion as follows: “We hope and pray that there will be a time – and I hope it happens shortly – notwithstanding that it may be a farfetched wish – that religious instruction, Scripture reading, and the whole religious order, can be brought back to the schools again. We appreciate the fact that there are a cross-section of many religions in Anguilla, but we just hope that our people will get back to the basics and understand that there is one God, and that they will buy into his credibility for mankind. It is time that we need to pay tribute to who God is, even in our schools.”
John Harrigan had the final word: “I think religious exposure at the schools is key to the development of a complete and well-rounded Anguillian society. It is a subject that should be reinstated in the school curriculum as it can only benefit the children. Anguilla is primarily known to be a Christian society…and I believe religious instruction should be recognised and upheld in the education system.”
