The Catholic World, Vol. 26, October, 1877, to March, 1878Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 26, October, 1877, to March, 1878
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
The population of Jamaica numbers about half a million, of whom nearly
four-fifths are blacks, one hundred thousand colored people, and only
thirteen thousand Europeans. In addition to these there are several
thousand Cubans and Haytians, who have been driven from their homes by
political troubles, some thousands of Indian coolies, and a few Chinese
and Madeira Portuguese.
Of this motley population only a few thousand are Catholics. The greater
part of the English belong to the Church of England, which, however, has
been disestablished in Jamaica for some years. These enjoy the full
benefit of the usual High Church and Low Church party warfare. One of
the leading clergy of this denomination has started a monthly paper in
Jamaica, called the _Truth-Seeker_. It is to be hoped that he may be
successful in his search. The last number which the writer saw contained
arguments in favor of spiritualism, homœopathy, and Extreme Unction. The
editor is a vegetarian and teetotaler, and is said to have employed in
the communion service, as a substitute for wine, the juice of a few
grapes squeezed into a tumbler of water. When the bishop was asked about
it he made a wry face and expressed a hope that he might never receive
the communion in his teetotal friend’s church again. This reminds us of
an incident related by a Church of England parson. He arrived at
Kingston by the mail steamer from England on a Sunday morning, and duly
betook himself to a church. It happened to be communion Sunday, and he
“stayed.” He noticed that most of the white people went up to receive
first, and that the few who neglected to do so, and who communicated
with the negroes, came back to their seats screwing up very wry faces.
Our friend solved the mystery when, going up nearly last, he found that
his black friends’ lips had imparted such a flavor to the cup that he
did not lose the taste of it for hours!
But the most popular sect amongst the blacks is the Baptist. The Baptist
ministers are credited with having been the cause of the insurrection a
dozen years ago, which was attended with so much bloodshed. Their great
recommendation to the people appears to consist in their teaching
virtually that the country belongs to the black man, and that the whites
endeavor to defraud them of their rights by giving them insufficient
wages and by other means. The consequence is that the negroes frequently
defraud their employers by theft, shirking work, injuring their
property, and so forth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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