SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS By Stephen Copeland
Proclaiming the Good News in Jamaica
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Father Jim Bok has been immersed in Jamaican culture for well over a decade. Above, he sports a traditional “rastacap,” or tam. 12 • June/July 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
Father Jim stands outside Mary, Gate of Heaven Church with Vilma, a volunteer.
Father Jim applies a fresh coat of paint to St. Luke Church in Little London with a group of volunteers.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FATHER JAMES BOK, OFM
hen Father Jim Bok, OFM, told his provincial he was THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CHAPTER volunteering to serve as a missionary in Jamaica, his That was September 2008. Today Father Jim lives in superior was surprised and responded, “You’re kidding!” the coastal tourism town of Negril in the civil parish of Father Jim, 61 at the time, was an unlikely candidate for Westmoreland on the westernmost tip of the country, servthe role—not only because of his age but also because he ing as a priest at Mary, Gate of Heaven Church and St. Luke had spent most of his life in Ohio. He grew up in the comin nearby Little London. After two years of being immersed munity of Reading, just north of Cincinnati. in Jamaican culture, Father Jim began to As a friar, he served as a teacher and principal see different potential avenues for outreach. for 17 years at Roger Bacon High School, folJamaica faces tremendous poverty, as about lowed by another 17 years as the director at the 20 percent of the nation’s population lives provincial development office, both of which below the poverty line. The lavish resorts in a were roles in Cincinnati. Serving as a friar place like Negril can be deceiving. Father Jim there for so long also allowed him to be close says many locals work for very low wages and to his tight-knit family—his three siblings, 10 struggle just to put food on the table for their nieces and nephews, and now grandnieces and families. grandnephews. In many ways, everything Father Jim did Yet there he was, at an age when most are as a friar in Cincinnati has prepared him beginning to think about retirement, volunfor Jamaica. One Sunday after Mass in 2009, teering to move 1,500 miles away and essena group of parish women discussed with Father Jim Bok, OFM tially start life and ministry all over. Why? The Father Jim the idea of starting a soup kitchen answer, Father Jim says, was simple: “The Spirit touched me in downtown Negril. In 2010, they opened St. Anthony’s at a chapter meeting. There was a need, and I wanted to go.” Kitchen and began serving 60–70 meals a day. There they It was one of those “aha moments,” he says—one of those began to notice an interesting trend. On Monday and times when the path lights up in front of you and you realize Tuesday, hardly any children showed up for lunch, but by there is no other way. the end of the week, children were showing up for meals in “Somebody once said to me after hearing my story, ‘You droves. really gave up a lot to go there, didn’t you?’” Father Jim says. They learned this was related to families not being able to “I never thought about that, but I guess I did. Leaving a job I afford school expenses like lunch and taxi fare for the week. loved. Being away from family and friends.” Father Jim never How could they address this need? thought about what he was losing, perhaps because when In 2011, they launched the Get Kids to School (GKTS) seeking God’s will he has always felt as if he was gaining. program, which helps equip struggling families with uni-
