by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
There are still a few more tickets available for CCSJ’s annual fundraising dinner for the maintenance of the Anthony Pantin Reintegration Centre. It will be held on Saturday, June 8 from 7.30 p.m. at Skippers Restaurant, T&T Yacht Club, Bayshore. Ray Holman, who was recently honoured as one of T&T’s Icons, will be playing at the event. Please ring CCSJ’s office on 299-8945 for tickets.
I recently returned from Guyana where I attended two major events. AEC Episcopal Members of the AEC Justice and Peace Commission and Diocesan representatives of Justice and Peace groups from all across the AEC region met to reflect on our work; to identify three priorities for our respective Archdioceses/Dioceses; and to focus specifically on the scourge of Domestic Violence which is pervasive across the region/world.
Participants at the AEC seminars in Guyana
The second meeting was attended by those of us who are Coordinators/Facilitators of the VIRTUS – Protecting God’s Children programme. The Bishops are committed to protecting and providing safe environments for children. The programme seeks to educate and train clergy, staff, parents, volunteers and other adults about the nature of child sexual abuse and how to prevent such harm to children.
The three priorities identified for Justice and Peace work for our Archdiocese were:
- Formation of the faithful in the social teaching of our Church. It should be noted that this was identified as a common priority for all Dioceses;
- Eradicating poverty and social exclusion; and
- Preparing to take a lead on our Archdiocese’s 3rd Pastoral Priority: Regenerating the moral and spiritual values of our society – which comes on stream on the Feast of Christ the King (November 23). The goal of this third pastoral priority is: “That each Catholic, as a committed disciple of Christ, knows, lives and witnesses to the rich moral teaching of the Church; and actively partners with people of good will towards the moral and spiritual renewal of Trinidad and Tobago”.
CCSJ is mindful of what the Synod Implementation Team stated in June 2011: “The three Pastoral Priorities are three interlocking and inseparable aspects of the Mission of the Church. New Evangelisation, Catholic Culture and Identity and Moral and Spiritual Renewal refer back to the threefold mission of Prophet, Priest and King, and as such give focus to these in our unique context. In this sense a Pastoral Priority does not really end. It is the moving of the light from one part of the painting (New Evangelisation) to another part (Catholic Culture and Identity). Because the Pastoral Priorities are integral to the Mission of the Church, they do not really begin or end. They are given more or less prominence.”
These Pastoral Priorities will help us to achieve our mission to build the Civilisation of Love. But to do so, we must not turn our backs on those who have strayed from the path of righteousness. At the sod turning ceremony for the Anthony Pantin Reintegration Centre (APRC) on February 21, 2005, I said:
“Our response to crime in T&T is a moral test for our nation and a challenge for our Church…Our society seems to prefer punishment to rehabilitation and retribution to restoration, thereby indicating a failure to recognise prisoners as human beings. Punishment must have a constructive and redemptive purpose – it must be coupled with treatment…Just as God never abandons us, so too we must be in covenant with one another. Our response to crime should not be abandonment and despair, but rather justice, contrition, reparation, reconciliation, and return or reintegration of all into the community.
“If we do not seek to rehabilitate offenders and help to reintegrate them into society so that they can live productive lives, then our communities will continue to feel unsafe and insecure…As a people of faith, we believe that grace can transform even the most hardened and cruel human beings…
“It is time for a new national dialogue in T&T about how we deal with crime and violence; how we restore our respect for law and life; how we protect and rebuild communities; and how we help offenders to redeem themselves. The APRC must be seen as part of a holistic approach to restore a sense of civility and responsibility to everyday life, and to promote crime prevention and genuine rehabilitation. A Catholic approach leads us to encourage models of restorative justice that seek to address crime in terms of the harm done to victims and communities, not simply as a violation of law.”
Let’s promote the dignity of each person.
