A life of servanthood means putting your master’s needs before your own. For Msgr Christian Pereira and Fr Clyde Harvey, they spent the last 40 years of their lives doing God’s work, preparing Christians for the coming of His Kingdom.
There was little room as hundreds of disciples crowded the pews and tents outside the Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando yesterday to celebrate momentous achievement. Marking the occasion with a special mass, Archbishop Joseph Harris told the congregation that not only had these men preached the gospel, they also “walked the talk.”
Pereira, who was accepted into the seminary in 1970 and was ordained as a priest in 1976, touched the lives of many as he pioneered the youth ministry in the La Divina Pastora Parish. He later served in the Laventille/Morvant Pastoral area alongside Harvey.
Forthright about the social ills faced by the nation’s youths, Harvey co-founded Lifeline, now a hotline for suicidal and distressed people. He founded two HIV support organisations: Community Action Resource (CARe) and South AIDS Supports. He also chairs the Morris Marshall Development Fund, which provides educational and personal development opportunities to the Laventille community.
In his homily, Harris said the path chosen by both men was to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that God’s Kingdom became most important in their lives. It was a life they chose as young men, even though they knew there were few chances of career advancement with only one place each for the position of bishop and auxiliary bishop.
“They chose a path of dedicated servanthood to us and I choose that word ‘servanthood’ instead of service. Service is what good people like the Lion’s (Club) and Rotary (Club), and people like that do. They do tremendous work, they do it on their time and when they want.
“Servanthood means total availability and it means doing things in the way the master wants it done. Servants do not make their own rules, servants follow the rules of the master and these two priests in this archdiocese chose the route of servanthood, doing everything that the master wants in the way the master wants it done so that God’s Kingdom can begin to manifest itself in our midst. That is not an easy vocation, it is quite difficult,” Harris said.
Explaining how difficult the task is, he said there are many people in T&T who have no notion of God’s Kingdom. He said that in inviting people into God’s Kingdom they are often chastised and people say all kinds of things about them.
Acknowledging each other’s achievement, Pereira and Harvey embraced each other in a sign of peace and respect, a symbol of their long lasting friendship.