Michael, left, and McGill
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
MEN NEED to be "affirmed and taken through a process" of self-worth as a part of a "rites of passage for men and boys" in the Jamaican society. And it is important for the difference to be made between being a good man and being good at being a man.
These were the views of Dr. Sydney McGill, a noted psychiatrist and sexologist who was one of the presenters at yesterday's second annual Men on a Mission one day conference held at the Family Church on the Rock in Bogue, St. James.
The conference, as Mark Dawes, conference convener and Mind and Spirit editor of The Gleaner pointed out, has become a series after the first one was held in Kingston. There have been requests, he said, for the conference to be taken to Portland as well.
The conference was sponsored by the Gleaner Company, Missionary Churches of Jamaica and Family Church on the Rock.
Pastor Richard Keane, host pastor of the Church on the Rock and Pastor Donald Webley of the Rosemount Missionary Church also addressed the opening of the two-part conference.
Paul Blake of Sold Out Ministries led Praise and Worship and also gave a preview of his upcoming single Create in me a clean heart, a song he said he wrote after a recent 21-day fast.
Dr. McGill who was one of two presenters in the first session said among the three things that men needed in their lives were something to give their lives to a cause or a mission; becoming less self-absorbed and someone with whom to share it that is, the need to love and be loved.
DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS
Dr. McGill who is also a columnist with The Gleaner encouraged Christian men to become men-tors/life coaches for young boys and to impart positive influences.
He said with the rising instances of crime, teenage pregnancies, the incidents of AIDS/HIV and poverty, men must make it their purpose in life to see that the next generation is saved from following in destructive patterns.
He cited positive results from a group he started in Ocho Rios where he said mentors committed two to three hours per week for a year and said there were plans to expand this programme outside of the parish of St Ann.
Brother Anthony Michael, a Catholic priest based in St. Elizabeth, spoke about a "certain amount of male bashing from women and in some instances men" about "what it means to be a man".
