Almost five hundred years ago, an English king by the name of Henry VIII got into a big argument with the Pope of Rome. The problem was that Henry VIII wanted to marry a woman named Anne Boleyn. Henry wanted a male heir. Henry was already married, however, to a Spanish royalty by the name of Catherine of Aragon. So Henry wanted the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine. When the Pope refused, Henry set up his own version of the Roman Catholic Church. He retained almost all the rituals and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, which had dominated Europe for centuries. But he called his new church the Anglican (English) Church, and made himself the head of same. (In the United States, Anglicans are called Episcopalians.)
When the wild settlement of Belize began to get religion in the early nineteenth century, the church which ruled things was the Anglican Church, which is still the most powerful religion on the Southside of Belize City. Later in the first half of the century, the Methodist Church entered British Honduras. The Roman Catholic Church did not come into the settlement until the second half of the nineteenth century, after refugees from the Caste War of the Yucatan, almost all Catholics, took possession of the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts.
As a British Crown Colony from 1862 onwards, British Honduras’ official religion was the Anglican religion, the church headed by the British monarch. The Anglican Church did almost no proselytizing, in effect sitting on their laurels.
The Roman Catholic Church here, however, began working vigorously among the Garinagu of the southern districts of B.H. The Catholic hierarchy earned the prominent gratitude of the Garifuna people by accepting and training bright young Garifuna as school teachers. In the early part of the twentieth century, the public service in the Anglican-dominated colony, was, for all intents and purposes, closed to the Garinagu. The Catholic Church was progressive in this matter, whereas the Anglican Church behaved in an elitist and reactionary, even racist, manner.
By the middle of the twentieth century, the Catholic clergy had even grown in credibility and influence among the working class so-called Creoles of the capital city, then called Belize. There were two main catalysts for growing Catholic credibility and influence among the Creoles, who had almost all been Anglicans and Methodists. Those catalysts were the credit union movement and Golden Gloves boxing.
On the matter of Golden Gloves boxing, which was organized by the priests, it should be noted that the priests of the 1940’s and 1950’s were not the effete intellectuals of today. The Jesuits, especially, were often rough and masculine products from the Irish and German working classes of the United States. We’re talking about priests like Marion Ganey, Henry Sutti, Urban Kramer, Jim Carney, et alii.
The Catholic Church in British Honduras, then, with the base support of the mestizo population, having earned the gratitude of the Garinagu, and having proved itself valuable and respected in the Creole community, achieved political power when George Price became PUP Leader in 1956. Price had studied for the priesthood in the United States and in Guatemala. He was 100 percent Roman. A settlement which had been monopolized by the Anglican Church 150 years before, was now controlled by the Roman Catholic Church.
At this newspaper, for 38 years we have been criticizing a fundamental aspect of Catholic education in Belize – the notable absence of African and Mayan history from their school curricula. The Catholic establishment here, as a result, have considered UBAD/Kremandala their enemies, and they are probably justified in doing so, since they have this major problem with African and Mayan history.
If you wish to participate in electoral politics in Belize, it is suicidal to attack the Roman Catholic Church, because they control more votes than any other single non-political institution in the nation. Jump high, jump low, religion is involved in politics, because denominational teachers and clergy influence the minds of their classrooms and their congregations.
When white supremacy set up shop in Africa and America five hundred years ago, first they brought their military. Then they introduced their missionaries, who established their schools. Later, white supremacy organized a political system. In the case of Belize, this was a system of parliamentary democracy which featured universal adult suffrage as from 1954.
Where religion is concerned, this is an area where Belizean politicians do not venture. Religion is a matter of faith, not of logic. The point of our essay is that once we face the fact that Roman Catholic Church is the single most powerful institution, apart from the two major political parties, where vote influencing is concerned, then the church must concede that they have some power to address the mess that has emerged here in Belize. The question is – do they wish to address the mess?