The Vicar General of the Diocese of Georgetown, Guyana, says the Catholic Church is willing to play its part in bringing a halt to the murderous rampage currently taking place in that country.

Speaking with Catholic News last Tuesday evening, Vicar General Fr John Persaud described last Sunday’s late-night brutal attack in the mining town of Bartica as “very tragic”.

“These have been sad moments for us,” Fr John Persaud said, referring to the last week’s killing of 13 people in Bartica and the attack in Lusignan in January when 12 people were murdered.

“We (the Church) cannot condone any form of violence. I think it is important that dialogue takes place so that whatever is happening can be discussed in a clear way,” he said.

He noted that the Government WAS attempting to deal with the situation by arming the police and other security forces, and by discussing the way forward with representatives of the various sectors in society.

Fr Persaud said the Church was unable to send a representative to the hastily-called meeting hosted by President Bharrat Jagdeo on Tuesday evening, but said the Church was willing to support whatever reasonable initiatives were developed.

Fr Persaud was speaking on behalf of the diocese as Bishop Francis Alleyne OSB was visiting Catholic faithful in Guyana’s interior region of Rupununi, where communication is difficult. However, Fr Persaud was able to make brief contact with the bishop and informed him of the tragedy.

He said the bishop expressed sentiments similar to those contained in the statement he had issued in the wake of the Lusignan attack.

“Prayers are being offered not only for the affected families but the entire community, as it (Bartica) is very close-knit. This is traumatic. It really is a rough time,” Fr Persaud remarked.

Bishop Alleyne, OSB

Bro Psachal Jordan, OSB

Gerard Granado

The Benedictine order actually has a monastery in Bartica, which is located 80 miles south of the capital Georgetown. Bro Paschal Jordan told Catholic News the entire town remained shut down the day after the Bartica 13 were killed by a group of men who arrived by speedboat, raided the police station killing three police officers, then killed and injured other persons in the vicinity.

He said residents were in shock and very concerned about their safety. An inter-faith Service of Mourning was expected to take place last Wednesday evening. Bro Paschal said the format would be similar to a “Stations of the Cross”.

Thirteen posts were to be positioned along the “stelling” or wharf, where the first killings occurred, and each would have a black flag affixed to it. Prayers were expected to be offered at each post and a plant, symbolising life, would be presented to a relative of each person killed, with the hope that it would be nurtured.

Bro Paschal said individual churches would likely have their own services to allow people “to pray, cry and talk”. He added that the security guard killed in the Bartica attack was the husband of a parishioner.

“People are still coming to grips with the trauma. There is need of counselling for people – the police, the nurses at the hospital…,” he said.

The Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC), of which the Catholic Church is a member, is hoping to send in a team of trained counsellors. The CCC made the offer in a February 19 letter to President Jagdeo.

CCC general secretary Gerard Granado extended “prayerful solidarity at this time of sadness”. He said the incidents in Bartica and Lusignan “threaten the welfare and security of citizens, creating a pervasive sense of anxiety at the national level”.

He said such incidents “are erosive of the social fabric, striking, as they do, at the very core and foundation of civilised society – respect for the sanctity of human life and the related right and guarantee of individuals to a certain quality of existence”.

Granado said it was more than a “Guyanese problem” but one of “a regional Caribbean concern”. He said the CCC “is ready and willing to respond with Post-Trauma/Bereavement Counselling at the level of the communities directly affected and beyond”.
– RS