By SEAN DOUGLAS Sunday, March 21 2010

“I’D do it all over again,” said former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rev Cyril Paul, reflecting on life in ministry as he visited Sunday Newsday to launch his book, Response to a call (speeches 1979 to 2006).

The down-to-earth but no-nonsense Paul related his concerns about life and lifestyles in Trinidad and Tobago, some of which topics are briefly touched in his book, which compiles 30 of his best speeches (but not sermons) and which is already in bookstores.

Paul, 67, has been a clergyman for about 39 years, since 1971.

He said he was bequeathing his speeches to the nation, in the hope that it would inspire others to put their words to paper. He lamented the late Rev Roy Neehall had never left behind any of his great speeches, saying, “What a loss!”

Paul said his speeches centred on the themes of patriotism, nation-building, commitment and dedication, with the message of “Don’t give up on Trinidad and Tobago.” Lamenting that all his speeches from 1971 to 1978 had been lost in a flood of San Juan, he nonetheless said that further to this current book, he had been told that some of his best speeches were actually made since the year 2006, in a post-retirement period which he said had turned out to be a great period of growth for him.

“I’ve never regretted choosing the Ministry as my vocation. I’ve not lost my excitement and passion for the pulpit. I’d do it all over again.”

He quipped that his problem was not that he ever felt he might dry up out of ideas for a sermon but quite the opposite — finding the time to speak out! “Driving from here to home, I’d see two or three sermon ideas.”

He reflected on his life. “It’s been good for me. I have had the opportunity to speak out and challenge the leaders in a way I’d not be able to do otherwise.”

He said clergymen must not think their job is just to preach inside church about “safe” topics, but they should also discuss sensitive matters.

Laughing, he recalled someone once telling him, “If you don’t make a few people vexed, you haven’t preached.”

Having studied ecumenicalism in Switzerland where he also worked at the World Council of Churches, Paul was glad his work heading the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) had contributed to good relations between Trinidad and Tobago’s faiths.

Sunday Newsday asked Paul, who learned counselling at Master’s degree level at Princeton University, about the state of family life in Trinidad and Tobago.

Paul said, “Pressures are on the family, more than it was 20 years ago. Both parents are working and there are more financial challenges, and there is often inadequate parental supervision of children.” He noted that homes often have a television in each person’s bedroom, which separates family members. “Families are not eating together, but someone has to go off to watch a show,” he lamented.

Paul urged families to eat a meal together at least once per week in what he said should be a special family time. “You have got to protect that time,” he implored.

He said little activities such as a cookout could go a long way to helping families spend time together. While recognising that many families face tension and pressure, he urged family members not to be selfish but to think about the welfare of the whole unit, whether a couple or a family with children.

“The problem in Trinidad and Tobago is a pop psychology — me, my needs and my fulfilment.” He urged people to be less self-centred and less individualistic.