A Baptism Recorded

In the late 1950s and early 1960s it was Fr. Thomas Pearson, S.J. who took initiatives in the Catholic Church In Barbados At first Mass was celebrated in this wooden building. I do not know at what point a priest first resided there. However, in the OLQU Catholic Baptism Register it is recorded that Fr. Thomas Pearson, S.J. celebrated a baptism there, as Parish Priest, on 6th May 1958; and that he celebrated his last baptism there on 28th Dec. 1959.

Father Peter is assigned ass Parish Priest

Now, I, Fr. Peter Clarke, O.P., write about my own association with O.L.Q.U. I am a member of the English Province of the Dominican Order. In November 1958 I came from England to the Caribbean, spent a few months in Grenada and was then sent to join the small Dominican community at St. Patrick’s, Jemmott’s Lane. In this community were the retired priest, Fr. Aloysius Parkinson, S.J., several Dominican priests and co-operator brothers. After spending a few months assisting in the pastoral ministry of the Cathedral Parish I was sent to be parish priest at O.L.Q.U.

At that time I was known by the name given to me, Leander, when I received the Dominican habit in 1950. The first baptism I celebrated there was on 5th March 1961; my last one was on 17th Sept. 1967. It can be presumed that I was the first parish priest of the canonically erected parish of Our Lady Queen of the Universe, Black Rock. At the time I was 27 years of age, had been a priest for less that 4years, and had been in the Caribbean for less than 3 years. Thus I had very, very little pastoral experience and absolutely no experience of administering a parish. My awareness and understanding of the Caribbean was meagre.