LETTER OF THE DAY - The Church must lead the way
Published:Wednesday | June 23, 2010 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
JAMAICA IS in crisis! If we look closely, it is a crisis of males. At a deeper level, it is a crisis of fathers (or not enough good fathers). As I said in my sermon on Sunday, reported in this paper yesterday, merely carting off our inner-city young men to jail won't solve our crime problem. It may be a start, but it is not the end.
We don't have to rehash the statistics. An overwhelming majority of persons who commit crimes and are involved in violent acts in this country are young men 13-35 years old, and most of them will tell you that they have never had a good relationship with their fathers. What does that tell you? That we need, desperately need, to get more positive male relationships for our boys and young men - the seriously at-risk ones!
For years, I have sounded the clarion call that we need to develop mentoring programmes at the micro and macro levels to help transform the lives of these young men. I have travelled the Caribbean and the world really with that message. But who is listening? In Grenada and St Vincent we are about to launch a national mentoring programme for their high schools in the next few months. At least they are trying. What are we doing here in Jamaica? This is a country that THRIVES on talk - a lot of it! We often chat "ah bag ah nonsense." But talk is what we love. Perhaps because talk is cheap. Let me say it here: There are no easy solutions to our nation's problems. It will take personal sacrifice, courageous and moral leadership and the engagement of committed persons in sustained healing and healthy relationships to turn our young men and boys around.
The Church must lead the way. The way we do church must change. Church does not cater to men - the average man. It ministers very well to women but not to men. Men (males really as boys are included) are too noisy; too loud; too disruptive; too rough; they break things and damage property. Males are not predictable in following the rules of church. Our churches must adapt and adjust to that. We cannot be content to do church just for women and a few laid-back, easy-going, non-disruptive older men who are content with singing "Rock of ages cleft for me!" Our boys and young men need male mentors; they need spiritual fathers - men who will stand in the gap and take them under their wings; and invest their time, wisdom and resources to help transform their lives. Nothing less will do. Much of what remains is just talk; cheap talk.
I am, etc.,
Rev COURTNEY RICHARDS
Jamaica Theological Seminary
14 West Avenue
Kingston 8