{"id":1612,"date":"2007-07-21T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-21T14:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html"},"modified":"2007-07-21T14:03:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-21T14:03:00","slug":"archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop bars deacon\/politician from preaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s some unusual news<\/a>, from our friends in the Caribbean: <\/p>\n

Ronnie Thwaites has been suspended from preaching by the Roman Catholic Church until he decides to leave active politics.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The deacon, social activist, attorney-at-law and politician yesterday admitted to The Gleaner that the archbishop had barred him from delivering sermons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that I have been asked not to preach during the time of my active political involvement, but my status as a deacon in good standing remains,\u201d Mr. Thwaites said.<\/p>\n

Deacons are just below priests in the Catholic hierarchy and have the right to administer certain sacraments and wear a special white robe known as a \u2018dalmatic\u2019. <\/p>\n

They help the priests administer Mass, preside over baptisms and read the gospel in Church services, the role Thwaites has been temporarily stripped of.<\/p>\n

The contents of a letter, purportedly sent to Deacon Thwaites by Archbishop of Kingston, Lawrence Burke, could not be attained by The Gleaner.<\/p>\n

However Thwaites said: \u201cIt is clearly stated (in the letter) that it has nothing to do with any personal conduct of mine but it is the opinion of the archbishop that there is a conflict between being a politician and being a Christian minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he agreed with the archbishop\u2019s decision to bar him from the pulpit, Deacon Thwaites said: \u201cWhen you are ordained in the Catholic Church you make a promise of obedience to the bishop, no matter how much you disagree with him.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We had a similar controversy in the Archdiocese of New York<\/a> a couple years ago. <\/p>\n

Deacons are the only members of the Catholic clergy still permitted to hold public office. I’m wondering if someone at the Vatican is thinking it’s time for that to change…<\/p>\n

Photo: Deacon Ronnie Thwaites, from Go-Jamaica.com <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s some unusual news, from our friends in the Caribbean: Ronnie Thwaites has been suspended from preaching by the Roman Catholic Church until he decides to leave active politics. The deacon, social activist, attorney-at-law and politician yesterday admitted to The Gleaner that the archbishop had barred him from delivering sermons. \u201cI can confirm that I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nArchbishop bars deacon\/politician from preaching - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archbishop bars deacon\/politician from preaching - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s some unusual news, from our friends in the Caribbean: Ronnie Thwaites has been suspended from preaching by the Roman Catholic Church until he decides to leave active politics. 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The deacon, social activist, attorney-at-law and politician yesterday admitted to The Gleaner that the archbishop had barred him from delivering sermons. \u201cI can confirm that I…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2007-07-21T14:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/RqJOo1GldCI\/AAAAAAAAAVw\/MP2pYG3vTcI\/s400\/ronnie.jpg"}],"author":"deacon greg kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/archbishop-bars-deaconpolitician-from-preaching.html","name":"Archbishop bars deacon\/politician from preaching - The Deacon's 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