Sometime after I retired from the Office of the Ombudsman of Belize in 2008, Bishop Dorick Wright appointed me to serve on his Commission for Education. At about the same time he chose me to be one of his representatives on the Belize Council of Churches. Shortly thereafter a charismatic black leader arose in America and became President. There was almost universal rejoicing in Belize, a very small but multiracial, multi-ethnic society.
In 2009 Bishop Dorick, to prepare us for the cultural and civilizational challenges to be thrust upon us issued to his Education Commission a certificate of appreciation for our contribution to education while we were engaged in negotiations to update the Education Legislation to formalize greater control by the government over education.
The Church in Belize has never had equivalent manpower resources of the state. Its physical power can never be a proper match in the world of the real, especially when government supports an agenda that seeks to satisfy the wants of individuals rather than the time-honored values that benefit the whole of society. The homosexual and gender issues were introduced to all our schools in a booklet that sought to change the science of sexuality. Sometime thereafter, an individual took to Court a case to legalize homosexual expression.
The appointment in 2012 of a former judge of the State of California as U.S. Ambassador signaled to the world what America thought about the issue and about our people. The new Ambassador as a judge had twice overturned a referendum of the people of California which rejected gay marriage. My personal opinion is that, instead of being honored, he should have been impeached for violating the most basic canon of democracy: that the will of the people is supreme. It is so in Belize too. Therefore I marvel at the ease with which some legal experts treat the Preamble of our Belize Constitution. Only the power of the people of Belize can stop this erosion of our sacred values.
A few weeks ago I attended an anniversary party for Bishop Dorick when we celebrated the 42nd year of his ordination as a priest of the Church. As I contemplated the person, I noted that he has lost all his toes to that malady of sweetness. He will no longer be able to mark with his feet his presence on our Belizean streets proclaiming his resistance. But we will still carry him in a vehicle to enable him to declare with the Disciples of the Holy Spirit and thousands of our teachers what are our best and truest values.
A priest who works in the Vatican has claimed that Evangelicals and Catholics in America are seeking to create a theocracy in the greatest country in the world. No such accusation was made of Catholics when we worked together with our Christian Evangelical brothers and sisters to check the onslaught of the homosexual agenda in Belize. That crusade came from America, Europe and other developed countries with vast potential to persuade with material benefits. We Christians resisted with the words and prayers of a bishop lying in bed being consumed by suffering. We are grateful for divine intervention through Bishop Dorick, especially because his intentions are transparent and pure. He and his friends have no ambitions of worldly power, for we believe that it corrupts absolutely when spiritual dictatorship is added to the persuasiveness of material goods. The culture of Belize has been greatly influenced by the great countries of the world, including those now regarded as ancient. This richness has been enshrined and immortalized in the Preamble of our Belize Constitution, perhaps the greatest expression of all true human rights. It is obvious to Catholics and Evangelicals that theocracy has been hostile to freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. It is my considered opinion that Evangelicals and Catholics cannot reconcile these rights and values, with a denial of them, which are the fruits of theocracy.