A Port-of-Spain priest is calling on gun-toting criminals to hand over their weapons to the police and embrace God. Making the call yesterday for parents, guardians, teachers, politicians, taxi drivers and even parish priests to wake up, interim rector at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Rev Carl Williams, told the congregation: “It is time to put the guns down, get a life and listen to God.”
Delivering the homily on the 55th anniversary of the Trinidad and Tobago National Council of Parent Teacher Associations’ Interfaith Service, Williams blamed the current state of society on the lack of spiritual education and religious upbringing which was non-existent in many families.
Referring to the general sense of lawlessness, criminality and gang warfare which exists, he said the senseless and unimaginable violence that occurs daily, resulting in the death of young men in the prime of their lives, cannot be allowed to continue.
“Something is wrong with T&T’s soul. The situation in the country is sad and it makes me sad,” Williams said. He went further to explain that the local culture continued to glorify violence, which could be seen in the easy access to high-powered weapons, directly resulting in the increased number of murders taking place.
Claiming that many of the nation’s young men were being forced to lie down in death, Williams said a deeper probe was necessary to determine why children were unhappy, even as parents continued to work hard to provide material desires.
However, he said that this appeared not to be enough. He said children were being influenced into a culture of violence from a young age through the lyrics of gangster rap music, as well as the actions they continue to witness in their communities, schools and homes.
Saying many children in today’s society were more familiar with the sound of gunfire than the chimes of an ice-cream truck, Williams urged the population to demand change, as he said gunrunners and criminals could not be allowed to continue to wage war on society.
Acknowledging the work done by the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) to assist children in staying on the right path, Williams called on churches to become more involved in the lives of these young parishioners. He called on all churches to introduce homework centres as one way to ensure children were supervised and not involved in nefarious activities.
“All guns do is kill people,” Williams said, adding the time had come to put the weapons down. Endorsing Williams’s call was retired head of the T&T Cadet Force Col Edison Isaac, who said parents and guardians had to accept greater responsibility for their lack of action to change the situation. He said some parents needed to conduct an internal analysis as they searched for answers regarding their child’s activities.
“The country is in for a rough ride if this is how we are going to go,” Isaac said. Agreeing that the nation’s children were not going as they should, Bishop Barbara Gray-Burke called on irresponsible fathers to look after their children, even as she urged parents to carefully monitor their children’s comings and goings.
Also delivering brief remarks was head of the NPTA Zena Ramatali, who spoke of the organisation’s accomplishments.