Terrence 'Terry' Gillette
Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
With an active political life behind him, these days, Terrence 'Terry' Gillette is paying more attention to doing God's will and serving in the church.
A standard bearer for the People's National Party in St. Mary throughout the 1970s - 1990s, Mr. Gillette has turned his attention to the service of his God and is at this time pursuing studies towards becoming ordained as a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church.
His spiritual pilgrimage began early in life as a youngster growing in Westmoreland. He inherited his grandmother's faith and grew up as an Anglican. Then when the time came for higher schooling he attended Cornwall College in Montego Bay, and while there, he had an encounter with another boy who told him that if he were not a Roman Catholic he would not be going to heaven. This troubled the young Terry and it influenced his decision to convert to Roman Catholicism. Shortly after the encounter, he visited with a nun in a nearby elementary school and explained that he wanted to convert. The nun gave him practical assistance and not long after the schoolboy became a Roman Catholic.
So devout was he as a Roman Catholic, that some nuns from the Mt. Alvernia convent thought he would eventually become a priest.
That was not to be. He got married in 1958 in his 22nd year. He also got involved in extra-marital relationships and became excessively focused on making money. He was a life underwriter and later a baker and businessman - and highly successful in those endeavours. But his adulterous past took its toll on his marriage which later ended in divorce. Mr. Gillette remarried in 1998 after the Roman Catholic Church declared the first marriage annulled.
Became parish councillor
At 36, he became a parish councillor for a division in St. Mary. At 40, he took the decision to retire from business to devote himself fulltime to politics. Later, he stepped up to being a Member of Parliament for East Central St. Mary and later Western St. Mary. He won his seat in 1976, 1980, 1989, 1993, and 1997 general elections. He did not compete for a seat in 1983 when his party boycotted the polls.
"I am different from a lot of the other politicians. I don't believe you can be a proper Member of Parliament unless you are fulltime," Mr. Gillette said.
When his party formed the Government he served as a Minister of State.
Despite his devotion to political life, Mr. Gillette was always engaged in the life of his church. He worships today at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Highgate, St. Mary. There he is a lay preacher, and chairman of the board.
The thought that he should be giving greater service to God however kept niggling at him throughout his political career. It reached the point where he resolved that at 60 years old or soonest thereafter, he would devote the rest of his life serving God and the church.
Battling with sickness
In 1996, he had a bout with type-three malaria. As he recovered, his doctors at the time told him how privileged they felt conversing with him, as people with type-three malaria rarely survive. After battling his sickness, his resolved was strengthened to serve God. He told his party to begin reducing his political workload in anticipation of his going to serve his church fulltime.
He eventually stepped down from representational politics in 2002 making way for Dr. Neil McGill who won the seat in the elections held that year.
With representational politics behind him, Mr. Gillette told the then priest, at Sacred Heart, Fr. Louis Fergo "Anything you wanted me to do, from cleaning the toilet to climbing the top of the church I am available." Fr. Fergo urged him to become a deacon.
When Mr. Gillette, 71, officially began training for ordination to the diaconate in 2006, he found that his governmental and political past earned for him exemptions for some courses.
To pursue training he travels to Kingston once weekly to attend classes all-day at St. Michael's Theological College. He is one of 12 in the present batch there studying to become a deacon.
He is excited and stimulated by the study of theology and related disciplines. He has one more year to go to complete the programme of study.
He explained 'Once a person is ordained a deacon and then that person's wife dies, the deacon cannot remarry. And if you are unmarried and you are ordained, you can't get married. But I don't have a problem with all of those regulations. I am on my second marriage. My wife is 30 years younger than me. I hardly think she is going to go away and leave me. So if there is any departure, it must be me', Mr. Gillette said.
His wife, Dorothy Ann, is a senior teacher at Carron Hall High School in St. Mary. Sometimes, she sits in the theological classes with him. The former MP said she is a great help to him in ministry. She serves as church secretary and assists him with his Internet- related research and by typing his papers. The couple also have a nine-year-old daughter, Tiffany, who has been baptised and confirmed at seven and now serves at th>In anticipation of his ordination as deacon, Mr. Gillette said "A lot of people are going to criticise me by saying 'You see, is when you reach this age now, having scattered your oats and done all sort of things, enjoy 'life' so to speak, you now retire, and holding up Jesus and Bible to us. What you think, we nuh going to want to do it to?"
His response to those critics, he said is " Do not slaughter the messenger. Listen to the message."
Mr. Gillette has 14 children - seven boys and seven girls. The 14 were born to eight mothers.
Mr. Gillette ached in his voice as he anticipated criticism concerning his sexual exploits.
The Gleaner: Do I hear a tone of regret for what you have done in the past?
Gillette: Very much so. I deeply regret it. I deeply regret that I did not wake up to realise where I was going off at a tangent. I beg God pardon everyday. He sympathises and is really pardoning me. I have to explain to young people, don't follow what others follow. Follow the Bible. It teaches you what to do. There is enough in the Bible to show you the right way.
On a typical Sunday the congregation at Sacred Heart has about 44 persons in attendance.
Notwithstanding its present size, the little church prides itself in the number of leaders it has helped to form who are now serving the denomination locally and overseas. Among this list are: the Most Rev. Edgerton Clarke, former Bishop of Montego Bay, and former Archbishop of Kingston; Msgr. Robert Haughton-James, former rector of St. Richard's Church, St. Andrew and former principal St. Michael's Seminary; and Fr. Richard Ho Lung, founder and director of Missionaries of the Poor
Not many teens and young adults
There are however not many teens and young adults in the congregation at Sacred Heart, Mr. Gillette acknowledged. The current priest in charge of the church is Fr. Charles Brown. He officiates mass on Friday evenings and on the fourth Sundays of a month. Deacon Wilson Kong who is from Sacred Heart, officiates on the second and third Sundays of a month. Mr. Gillette officiates on the first Sunday of every month.
His life as an insurance salesman helped to hone his people skills which he acknowledged helps him in ministry. Being a businessman he learnt the importance of fixity of purpose as he pursued his objectives. His life as a Minister of State also helped him in organisation and management in the various committees he serves on the denominational level. His career as insurance agent, baker, businessman, and politician have served to sensitive him to see people in the church as persons who need to be served.
Like most persons committed to service in the church, Mr. Gillette is concerned about filling the pews with young people and seeing more men becoming priests. He believes that the core strategy to transform the spiritual landscape of the Roman Catholic Church must include teaching people from the Scriptures who they are, who they belong to, and what is their purpose. If this is done faithfully, he argued more persons would be in the pews and in the pulpit.
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