REGENERATING THE MORAL AND SPIRITUAL VALUES OF OUR SOCIETY

By Vernon Khelawan

To throw up our hands in disgust when we read of police officers charged with robbing a Chinese couple of half a million dollars and executions in Laventille is not enough.

To give a pass to itinerant vendors on the city streets hawking their CDs to the accompaniment of ear piercing samples – within earshot of a mobile police post – and ever expanding illegal ‘PH taxi’ operations all over the country, even in the face of the highly touted Rapid Response Unit, will take us nowhere, except further down the slippery slope. We must admit the lawlessness has overtaken us. Just look around your space and, sadly, while true and tried police officers are working hard on serious crime, the petty ones are exploding all over the place.

The Third Pastoral Priority – Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of Our Society – is an attempt to alert the Catholics in society that in this mission there is need for every possible helping hand. Starting in our parishes and our parish schools, with programmes aimed at bringing back some order to the parish community and the student population in our community, may seem at this point insignificant or not even worth the effort. But to begin the pull back is not, at this stage, an option. It is really a mandate.

Unfortunately, the benefits of today’s efforts will most likely not be seen by many of us. However, would we not like to leave this society even better than when we came into it? That has to be the legacy of all Roman Catholics. While at first and even second glance the task may seem monumental, and it is, the Church should not be afraid to lead the charge with creative and innovative programmes in the strong belief that we will in time begin to regain the moral and spiritual values that we continue to lose.