More than five hundred guests from every walk of life and every religion converged on the Aramalaya Presbyterian Church in Tunapuna last Sunday afternoon to celebrate A Service of Thanksgiving in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the ordination of The Reverend Cyril Paul as a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad and Tobago.
"Thirty years is indeed a generation, the full length of a long innings, an innings punctuated with boundaries as Reverend Paul navigated the trials of change in the times in which we live" said guest speaker, Central Bank Governor, Winston Dookeran, who had seen in Cyril Paul from the first time they met 25 years ago "a person who could challenge the future.....He has shown that there is hope in the quest for a new civil society. That we need not fear the winds of change for we have men of a calibre that will lead our society fearlessly into the new one. Men who will show the way and through the power of determined will, dispel enmity with love, overcome intimidation with hope and conquer fear with faith....Wherever his name is called, words like gentle, polite and thoughtful will be mentioned. So too will be integrity and compassion."
Born at Marabella into a Presbyterian family, young Cyril attended the Marabella Anglican Primary School "so that during the week I was busily making the sign of the cross but not on a Sunday as Presbyterians do not observe that custom, although we do respect those who do." Moving on to Naparima College for his secondary education, he excelled in athletics winning the Victor Ludorum title two years in a row, and played Intercol football for the College. On leaving school, he taught for a little while before starting his candidacy for the Ministry at the St Andrew's Theological College in San Fernando, continuing at the United Theological College of the West Indies in Jamaica where he obtained his Bachelor's degree, a Ecumenical Seminary which in hindsight may have started Reverend Paul on his lifelong quest for unity of all religions.
In 1970 he married his wife, Barbara, who Dookeran referred to as "the flower... his warm and charming wife who stood, at all times, as the pillar of strength in all his endeavours. Always touched by her simple smile, humble devotion, sincerity of purpose, no tribute to Cyril would be meaningful without an endearment of Barbara for all her strength and support."
Cyril Paul was ordained in 1971 at the Susamachar Church in San Fernando, not too far from his childhood church at Marabella, from which he is the first candidate, and only one so far in the history of Marabella, to enter the priesthood. His first assignment at the San Juan/Santa Cruz/Woodbrook Pastoral Region lasted for 18 1/2 years, during which time he went to the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey and completed his Master's Degree, specialising in Pastoral Counselling, and did a year's training in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), which has stood him in good stead to this day as Chaplain of the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex.
"The CPE training was done in a hospital setting with a team of people including a psychiatrist, medical doctor, social worker, nurse and chaplain who looked at a patient and came back to talk about the patient from different perspectives. This has helped me immensely with my hospital work, visiting the sick and nursing homes, and I have been able to use that knowledge at St Andrew's where I am pastoral counselling lecturer."
During his long stay in the northern region Reverend Paul became very involved with the ecumenical movement, as chairman of the Christian Council of Trinidad and Tobago for six years, and the Presbyterian Church's representative on the Council from 1971-1990. From 1972 to the present time Reverend Paul has represented the Presbyterian Church on the Inter Religious Organisation and is now 1st Vice President. " The Hindus, Bahai's, Muslims belong and a lot has been done to promote inter faith dialogue and the strengthening of inter faith relationships" says Reverend Paul, who only two days ago met with the new Roman Catholic Archbishop Edward Gilbert, and was assured by the new Archbishop that he would continue in the late Archbishop Pantin's footsteps of providing a venue for IRO meetings over the past thirty years, for yet another thirty.
In 1990 Reverend Paul went to Susamachar, the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, for seven years, and then to Tunapuna in 1997 where he remains to this day, officiating at as many as four services in the region (Tacarigua, Aramalaya, Warrenville and Kelly Village) on a Sunday.
During his pastoral ministry, he has been Moderator (head) of the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad and Tobago on three occasions for two-year terms. He has been involved in the Caribbean Conference of Churches ecumenical body in the Caribbean, served on the Planning Committee of the Barbados Assembly, the World Council of Churches and also on the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. All of which has given him the opportunity "to talk about my church, the country, the IRO'S Ecumenical Movement and the Caribbean Church as I shared with the International Church during worldwide visits to places such as Cuba, Russia, Berlin, Australia, Switzerland and France, representing the Caribbean Church." A memorable occasion was his visit to Russia at the time that the Russian Orthodox Church was celebrating its 1000th anniversary with one thousand guests from all over the world, as representative for the Caribbean area.
On reflection, Reverend Paul spoke of Reverend Mary Mc Inally, who played an important part in his life. "It was because of her encouragement and support that I was able to come into the Ministry. I was always interested but needed that someone to guide and support me and she was able to play that role. Two other people's friendship and support over the years which helped a lot with my work are the late Archbishop Pantin and Bishop Abdulah." He made special mention of the good support always received from the news media, both print and electronic, having always "appreciated that support from them to share and not have my knowledge remain in a corner."
While other religions have seen a decline in young peoples' involvement, Reverend Paul has not had that experience "one of our real strengths is the large number of young people in the church, and we keep them through young peoples' groups, making worship appealing, and in my case I try to relate on a one to one basis, no judgments, and I try to learn their language and listen to them. It is the young people who are the real roots and future of the church." He feels the time is ripe for merging of the Scottish Presbyterians of Greyfriars and the Church of Scotland, and the other Presbyterian Churches founded in 1868 by Canadian Missionaries but realises that "what has been a certain way for 100 years will take time to come together. But we relate in a fraternal way."
Open heart surgery has not stopped Reverend Paul's Ministry he is more careful with his diet, exercise and medication and is " very responsible when it comes to that but this must not be allowed to prevent me from full participation in my Ministry. As I get older I am collecting lay people for Ministry and leadership in the church, as lay people have a very important role to play but we need to equip them."
The one thing Reverend Paul wanted to say especially as he reflected on his thirty years of service in the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church was "Thank God for giving me health and strength and for allowing me not only to serve the local church but the National and Caribbean church and to some extent the International Church as well through the World Council of Churches. I am happy to say that God has blessed my ministry and after thirty years, as I look back, have not regretted one day choosing the Ministry as a vocation. I have enjoyed my work immensely as a cleric, there were other opportunities in broadcasting and teaching but I chose the Ministry and if I can go back would do it all over again. After 30 years there is no less enthusiasm for the pulpit and preaching. My fear is that I might go to the great beyond without completing all that I want to do."