by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“Our society needs both more personal responsibility and broader social responsibility to overcome the plague of violence in our land and the lack of peace in our hearts.”(Confronting a Culture of Violence: A Catholic Framework for Action – US Bishops, 1994).
Violence in our society continues unabated. Legislation on its own will never make people ‘moral’ or inculcate in them the values that will help us to build a just society. “A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect for the transcendent dignity of the human person…since the order of things is to be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around” (Gaudium et Spes).
Respect for life is inextricably linked to respect for the dignity of the human person. Blessed John Paul II reminded us in his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life that we must respect, defend and promote life at all stages and in all circumstances. Let us reject proposals that are not in keeping with our mandate to build the civilisation of love.
CCSJ joins with two prominent attorneys and a former High Court judge in rejecting the Attorney General’s suggestion that sexual offences against children should attract the death penalty. We agree with Senior Counsel Israel Khan, who says that “one way of reducing child sex offences is by introducing moral and spiritual values in homes. Sex offences happen across the board with people who have five-bedroom homes and a Jacuzzi in a house…” (Trinidad Guardian, Jan 5, 2014 p. A10).
Conscience formation starts in the HOME. Paras 1784-1785 of our Catechism tell us that: “The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to knowledge and practice of the interior law recognised by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart. In the formation of the conscience, the Word of God is the light for our path [Cf. Ps. 119:105], we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross. We are assisted by Gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teachings of the Church [see Dignitatis Humanae #14].”
The crisis in which we find ourselves provides us with an opportunity to devise strategies for action not only in our homes, but also in our parishes, schools, workplaces and in collaboration with the wider community.
Randy Taran’s (Canadian) Happiness Project has been introduced in some of our schools in T&T. Shereen Ali, who outlined the project in the Trinidad Guardian on Jan 5, 2014 on pages B1 & B6, says that though this “project will not address systemic underlying problems in our own education system, it may offer some tools for giving children better ways to cope with their emotions and their situations”.
As the Chair of T&T’s Education Discussion Group, I must say that those of us in this group, which was initiated by the late Prof John Spence in 2004, are concerned that we in T&T are constantly going abroad to seek solutions to our problems, and often fail to use the expertise of local educators or to locate foreign expertise within a broader T&T plan to address our concerns.
On page 5 of that same newspaper (Jan 5), Corey Connelly wrote about the climate of violence in schools. “Principals, teachers frustrated,” he wrote. His article highlights the fact that unless we develop the institutional capacity of our schools to address violence in schools, our national problems will persist or worsen. Davanand Sinanan, President of TTUTA, is reported to have said that student indiscipline is contributing significantly to the problem of teacher absenteeism. He said: “Many teachers are just frustrated, especially in the secondary schools, and they are staying away from classes. Many of them just don’t feel they have the energy to deal with the backchat and the fact that they are ignored by the students when they are teaching. They are just going through the motions because they are overwhelmed on a daily basis…There are no support systems in place and many of the students cannot take advantage of the system because their fundamental needs are not being met.”
I agree with him that we need a national dialogue on violence and its impact in schools – and I would add, in society.
