Archbishop Gordon: Grow up for 2020

ARCHBISHOP Jason Gordon wants TT to “grow up” for the new year. He also wants the "elites" of the nation to exercise extreme responsibility toward the common good.

He made the call in his homily at the New Year's Day service held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Independence Square, on Wednesday.

Gordon knocked those who instigated and provoked discord, who publicly embarrassed people and those who are negative towards others.

He said those behaviours led to unrest and war among people.

“Have you ever noticed that rather than pacify, people would 'chook'?"

"Time to throw water and calm everything down and people start 'chooking'. And when fire burning down the place, they hang back and say 'Eh eh, that is fire boy!' as if they don’t understand that they caused the fire in the first place.

“Have you ever noticed that we are very good at being negative to people? Have you ever noticed that in yourselves? Now, don’t go and say 'I wish so-and-so were here so they could hear this,' it is you I’m talking to. We could be so negative to each other that we could be insulting.”

“Sometimes in our families when we want to make a point to a child, rather than give them the positive, we give them the negative. And we humiliate them in front the whole family.”

“These are not the ways to build peace, that is the way to build war.”

He said these behaviours were immature.

According to Gordon, these attitudes contributed heavily to the violence the country is experiencing at the moment.

He said the cross, the symbol of Christianity, depicts Jesus Christ, who sacrificed everything for our sakes. But, in today’s society, people are not willing to sacrifice, according to the Archbishop.

He said people would rather keep their lifestyles and have others do what they want for them.

“I don’t know how to say this gently, and I don’t know how to say it politely, so I’m just going to tell you: We have to grow up to be adult Catholics. There is a lot of immaturity among us. An adult is someone who is willing to make the sacrifice for the sake of other people. A child is someone who wants other people to sacrifice for them.”

“The infantile is a person who is quick to pick up a gun and pull the trigger. The infantile is a person who uses their mouth to cut someone down. The infantile is who would lambaste people in public and have no reserve and not be able to hold back.

“God came here to serve everyone. That is what maturity looks like,” he said.

After the service, Gordon explained the maturity he was talking about was a tenet of the Catholic church. He said it is separated in two parts: the common good, and solidarity.

“It means I would have to join with you in your suffering and in your joy and I have to work with you to ensure you have what you need to flourish as a human being. The common good means I can’t just think about what is good for me and my family, I have to think about what is good for the whole country first and myself second.”

He said people now need to begin working towards a society where we can ensure the good of all people, but especially those on the margins – the homeless, the poor, and the underprivileged. He called for the "elites," especially, to begin thinking in this manner lest the country fall into social unrest.

“This sense of unbridled capitalism has pushed us in a direction of greed, where many people have so much that they can take care of ten generations, while other people don’t even have enough for today. And that’s wrong. That is a sin,” he said.

He also called people who degrade and desecrate the environment sinners and said they are destroying the inheritance of generations to come.

He noted that even with gang violence many people, who are lured into gangs, do so from a young age, but by their 30's they desire to get out. They, however, are unable to because of what they have done in the past and has to reluctantly stay in the gang, even though they may have children and would want to settle down.

“That is why it is infantile because what he was doing before is what is creating the tension. He wasn’t thinking about his children and what kind of society he wants for them. He is only thinking about him and his power, and who disrespected him.”

He called for people to put down their warmongering ways and practice the skill of peace.

“We might be experts in bringing people down, 'chooking fire', 'wilding up' people, exposing and embarrassing people. Now lets become artisans of peace. If you want to change TT, and the violence in TT, it has to start with how you and I, who have encountered Jesus Christ, relate to each other inside our families.”