At a recent retreat for heads of the various departments involved in pastoral ministry, Church leaders determined that the Archdiocese needed to pay particular attention to the issue of community building.

It is a recommendation that the departments must make happen with some urgency; one that is important for the local Church as it is for the nation.

The call for community building was one of two recommendations coming out of the two-day meeting: the other was a call to give greater publicity to the initiatives of the Church, “to inform and raise support for the ministry of the Church”.

If as a people we are to address the fundamental issues that plague our society, all must acknowledge the deep divisions in our nation. The forthcoming General Elections and the blind partisan politics in this season of campaigning bring these divisions to the surface and can exacerbate them.

The Social Justice Commission, in its “Reflection” on the approaching 2007 elections, sees “supporting community approaches to crime prevention and law enforcement” as an important requirement for confronting the “growing culture of violence” in the nation. The CCSJ has emphasised the need for community participation.

The department heads at the Emmaus retreat were concerned, in the first place, with the deep divisions that exist within the Church. The final document of the leaders’ meeting stated: “We recommend that the Archdiocese appoint a body or department or person with the responsibility to promote community building at the Archdiocesan, Vicariate and parish level”.

 They understood that the plan had to be embraced by priests, religious and laity alike and while the leaders did not discuss exactly how this work was to be done, they agreed on its urgency.

The greatest prominence

At the heart of the proposal is the Solidarity initiative – the theme of Archbishop Edward Gilbert’s Pastoral Letter, “Deepening the Spirit of Solidarity in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain”.

It is a solidarity that begins in the Church but cannot end with it; far less can this solidarity truly exist without radiating out to all members of the society.

The recommendation for community building is about helping people to see themselves as community. The value of the local Church making community building a key element in its mission cannot be underestimated.

It will require training in community formation and particular attention to the subject areas of mediation, communication, socialisation and reconciliation.

We acknowledge that there are many already involved in this work – at both Church and national level – and that many have selflessly engaged this task in the past. The time has come, however, to give this initiative the greatest prominence.

The state of our nation is a pertinent reminder to the Church that part of its mission, to which it has been called by Christ, is to be healer and that it is an essential instrument in making the vision of a caring community real.

The conviction and hope of the psalmist in the psalm prayed at this weekend’s Masses and Services must be the Church’s conviction and hope: that “the Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love … all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Psalm 98: 2, 3).