I welcome everyone to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the Interfaith Prayer Service for City Day Celebration 2005. We have gathered to celebrate under the theme: One City – One People, Fostering Team spirit and Alliances for a Developed City .

I am grateful for the invitation of Mayor Brown to preach the homily and I am pleased that the celebration, which will extend through tomorrow evening, is opening with a faith dimension, itself a symbol of the theme – unity for development.

I congratulate Mayor Brown and his staff on the theme chosen for the celebration. It provides excellent philosophical and theological material for reflection that is and should always be the foundation of developing the city.

The implications of the theme

Philosophically, the theme names the process of forming “many into one.” It can only be done by “Fostering Team spirit and Alliances”. Let us begin with the issue of the specifics of the process of forming many into one.

What are the elements of the process? As I analyze it, there are three essential elements in the process:
1) The community committed to open and reasoned dialogue;
2) The community articulating a vision for development; and
3) The community making a commitment to working for the common good.

The presence of these three elements will motivate the collaboration needed to build a developed city. The absence of these three elements will make the challenge of building a developed city very difficult to achieve.

The Mayor's office chose the readings for the prayer service. The reading from Corinthians (1 Cor 12: 4-11) applies to this celebration quite well. It stresses that unity implies accepting values that flow from a common source – the source being God.

The notion of a common source is important for our multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural society. God is the source of both Revelation and Reason. Therefore, the common source notion applies to believers who respond to revelation and to people of integrity who are guided exclusively by reason.

The list of gifts Paul mentions in the first reading are not just for the individuals who possess them. The gifts of God are given to individuals for the community.

Even in the case of miracles, the person who has benefited from the miracle must refer the results of the miracle to the community. Any attempt to keep the gifts or the benefits of a miracle selfishly for oneself is against the life-giving wisdom of God.

We all know that the gifts that are present in Port of Spain are significant. The potential those gathered gifts have for this city is enormous. What will challenge us to use the gifts for the community are the three elements of the process mentioned above.

What will undermine the potential of those gifts for the community is an attempt to use them selfishly and to try to actualise the potential without a continual and persevering reference to the common good.

Theologically, the theme shows that there is nothing automatic about unity. Unity and unified collaboration need attention all the time. Why? The answer is the selfishness that has affected our human nature, the presence of powerful vested interest groups not motivated by the concept of the common good and also the perception that nothing can be done.

The gospel reading from Mark (Mark 10: 35 -45) shows how ambition among some of the disciples caused disunity in the community of disciples. The Lord had to correct the misunderstanding among the disciples.

He did this by teaching an essential value of the kingdom: authority is for service. If authority in creating a developed city is not for service of the common good, then any of the power groups present in any city of the world will eventually control the agenda for development.

Lessons from history

What observations about development should we consider as we plan the development of Port of Spain ? For a moment, let us look beyond Trinidad and Tobago . All I ask is that you listen carefully to the history of other countries:

1) In many countries, the development of famous cities has resulted in magnificent centers that draw nationals, international business corporations and tourists. However, three blocks away from these centers, we find terrible poverty, filth and danger. I suggest to you that is not development

2) In many countries, urban renewal has created “ghost” cities. By that I mean the renewal gave such preference to magnificence and business that, intentionally or unintentionally, it eliminated people, homes, neighbourhoods and families. Outside of business hours, it created emptiness. I suggest to you that is not development.

3) In many countries, gentrification – one of the most cruel forms of capitalism – became a primary element of the plan for urban renewal. It is the process of moving people out of their homes and neighbourhoods in the name of urban renewal, then quietly buying up properties, allowing those properties to remain empty for up to ten years and eventually building expensive housing and business centres which prevent the people from ever moving back into their former neighbourhoods. Sometimes it is done not so subtly through the governmental use of eminent domain.

The development of Port of Spain

I offer these observations for the development of the city based on the biblical readings and development patterns from other countries:

1) Development is a very complicated and delicate process. It puts pressure on leadership on all levels. At times the stress can be brutal. Yet, it can be an exciting time in which the doors of the future are opened.

2) People must be the centerpiece of the plan for development. They must be involved in the dialogue and they must be allowed to contribute to the articulation of the vision of what kind of city they want. That noble goal is not easy to reach because many people are trapped by their own oppressive life experience and are just trying to survive. Their vision is limited, but they must be somehow involved. Their basic human needs must be given attention.

3) Port of Spain is the capital of the Nation. Therefore, it plays many roles in the life of the Nation and in the image the Nation projects to the global community. The nature of the city as the capital of the country must be factored into the vision for development.

4) Development itself is a process and therefore continuity must be built into it. A Start-Stop-Start-again-Change direction dynamic is self-defeating. Those who are not working for the common good must be identified and carefully watched.

5) The intrinsic problems of poverty, crime and violence, pressuring people to sell their homes for bigger projects, the drugs and prostitution that frequently accompany some business ventures that are already in the city have to be addressed as part of the vision for development.

6) Environmental issues must be respected. All through the Caribbean disrespect of the environment has resulted in regular and predictable flooding. Poor environmental planning is a mistake that we should not repeat!

7) Finally, the mentality that the challenges are too big to conquer must be defeated. I think on a small yet significant scale, the example of courageous, creative leadership from Rosary Parish and the Archdiocesan Social Justice Commission in Gonzales has already convinced some doubters about what is truly possible.

Conclusion

The theme, the philosophical elements of the theme, the theology of the readings, the historical references and the list of issues to be considered become a helpful context for reflection as we plan the development of Port of Spain .

We all know we have the gifts and skills to make Port of Spain one of the jewels of the Caribbean . We all know we have the money to do it.

What we do not know at this point in history is whether we can generate and sustain the collaborative energy to develop this city according to the wisdom of God outlined in this homily.

The fundamental question for planning becomes, “Is that what we want to do?”