Church Leader Says There is Still Hope

Roosevelt Papouloute

Reverend Papouloute expects that the report of the Council of Churches will be produced once all its executive members are together in a few weeks’ time. But despite the separate reports being made, the relationship between the members of the Council, he expects, will survive this temporary rift. Like his colleague Anglican Bishop Philip Wright, he expects that the Commission will continue to have its role in safeguarding Belize’s Christian moral foundation.

Rev. Roosevelt Papouloute, President, Belize Council of Churches

“I don’t know what is going to be the process from the other end; that’s the process from our end and we – and when I say we [I mean] Bishop Wright and myself – we have respectfully informed the Prime Minister of our position, and we also informed him that when we are ready with our position we will place them in his hands. He and his Cabinet will decide how they proceed.  I believe that there are examples in other countries where a Church-State Commission works; maybe even in our case for this particular issue we may not be able to agree and work together, but there are other issues perhaps we may be able to tackle together – and so I am not, and Bishop Wright – we are not completely saying that as a church community there is no room for us to sit together; there are rooms for us to sit together. But we also can appreciate the fact that in instances where we cannot do it together, that doesn’t mean that either of us does not have the right to say let us do it separately, and then if there are ways and means and points where we can meet, then we will do so.”