Archbishop: Education system not firing young people’s imaginations

JULIEN NEAVES

ARCHBISHOP Jason Gordon says the education system is not firing the imaginations of some young people in the society.

He was speaking at the Good Friday service held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain.

He said for this Good Friday he begged people to understand what God has done for us through Jesus and the high price he paid for love.

"And if we do we could never pass Christ crucified in the streets of Port of Spain and be indifferent. We could never pass by that young man that I met who from 12, 13 years-old was already involved in the life of a gang. We cannot pass by our young people who are losing their way so easily and so quickly because we don't have an education system that can hold them, fire their imaginations and excite them to learn. Because we fail to have a way of teaching that stirs their imagination. We cannot pass by on the other side any more."

He said, on the first Good Friday the world "went mad and rejected the lover who loved of us from then to now." He described it as a love story but one of love rejected which continued to this day.

"We reject him and we crucify him over and over again. Again and again he is rejected by us. Somehow we are incapable of receiving his love."

Gordon said when he sees people living on the streets or he meets young women who have to sell themselves because they cannot find another way to have a decent livelihood, "there too Christ is being crucified."

He recalled visiting prisons and meeting people imprisoned for years, and their cases have not been tried.

"As far as we are concerned they are innocent because in this country a person is innocent until proven guilty. And yet they are in jail for no other crime but poverty. That is the only crime they are in jail for. When the case is tried they may be there for another crime. But until such time, their crime is poverty. There I see a crucified Christ."

He added: "And I also see the apathy of the crowd because we are totally indifferent of their suffering. I see the apathy of the society because that not happening to us. 'That is them people and them.' So do we care? Do we get ourselves involved? Do we make a cry except for somebody that we know personally? We see the Christ suffering over and over and over again. My brothers and sisters you and I, we are the crucifiers. Our apathy crucified Christ in Port of Spain every single day."