The Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist com­mu­ni­ty has re­ceived a $10 mil­lion grant from the Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go for the con­tin­ued de­vel­op­ment of its sa­cred cathe­dral, ad­min­is­tra­tive com­plex, and her­itage park, ac­cord­ing to a state­ment from the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter.

Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young, pre­sent­ed the grant dur­ing a cel­e­bra­tion host­ed in ho­n­our of the faith at the Diplo­mat­ic Cen­tre on Sat­ur­day night. “This Gov­ern­ment de­liv­ered the land and this Gov­ern­ment de­liv­ered the first con­tri­bu­tion to­wards that dream be­com­ing a re­al­i­ty,” Young said in pre­pared re­marks.

“I am hap­py to tell the flock tonight that on the 20th of Feb­ru­ary this year the Cab­i­net ap­proved a grant of $10 mil­lion to­wards your sa­cred cathe­dral and ad­min­is­tra­tive com­plex and her­itage park,” he added.

The Prime Min­is­ter said the fund­ing ful­filled a promise made by his pre­de­ces­sor, Dr. Kei­th Row­ley, to sup­port the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist faith. “I was adamant to break the bu­reau­cra­cy to en­sure that at my first out­ing as your Prime Min­is­ter, com­ing humbly be­fore you tonight, I would be in a po­si­tion where I would be able to de­liv­er, on be­half of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go, our sec­ond con­tri­bu­tion to your dream be­com­ing a re­al­i­ty,” Young said.

In 2019, the Gov­ern­ment grant­ed ac­cess to state land to the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist and oth­er re­li­gious or­gan­i­sa­tions. The com­mu­ni­ty lat­er re­ceived an ini­tial grant of $10 mil­lion to be­gin the project.

Prime Min­is­ter Young al­so called on the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist com­mu­ni­ty to con­sid­er for­mal­ly re­plac­ing the term “Shouter Bap­tist,” de­scrib­ing it as a rem­nant of the colo­nial era.

“As I spoke to my Cab­i­net col­leagues this week, I pro­posed to them… why do we still have the ter­mi­nol­o­gy, Shouter Bap­tist?” Young said. “To me, Shouter Bap­tist was a colo­nial term, as was done by the colo­nial­ists, cast up­on us and cast up­on those—that is, you and your flock—many decades ago, wor­ship­ping your God, our God, in the way that you chose to.”

He said that un­der his lead­er­ship, the Gov­ern­ment is com­mit­ted to pro­tect­ing the right of every cit­i­zen to prac­tise their faith freely and with dig­ni­ty.

“Let us ask our broth­ers and sis­ters in the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist faith… whether it is not some­thing that we in 2025 should break—that shack­le of colo­nial­ism off of you—and you all should be known for­mal­ly and legal­ly as a Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist faith,” he said. “But that is not a de­ci­sion for us. That is your de­ci­sion.”

Young said the de­ci­sion to for­mal­ly adopt the name “Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist” rests en­tire­ly with the com­mu­ni­ty.