Archbishop Harris resigns

Born on March 19, 1942, Harris has been a priest for 48 years and bishop for five years, within the Order of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

He was appointed tenth Archbishop of Port-of-Spain on December 8, 2011, succeeding American-born Archbishop Edward Gilbert.

Harris has worked in Canada, Paraguay and Chicago, is fluent in Spanish and holds a Doctorate in Church Administration, a Master’s Degree in Theology and a License in Canon Law. In a Facebook Live interview, he disclosed the fact of his resignation letter and use the occasion to again voice his objection to the death penalty.

“I have sent my resignation in. I delivered it to the (papal) nuncio a few days before my 75th birthday. I am told it’s already been sent to Rome, so I await what the pope will say.” When a reporter suggested he stay on, Harris replied, “I don’t mind spending some more time with you.” He recalled his stances on issues of Remand Yard conditions, child marriage and the death penalty, speaking at length on the latter, to urge that people’s conscience be raised.

“If the death penalty is reinstated, at the end of it, having hanged two people or three people, what does that do to our nation? I remember the same Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj when Dole Chadee and his gang were hanged, there was a pall hanging over Trinidad and Tobago for days. There was a lot of people writing and saying how awful it felt and how barbaric it felt to hang nine people in two days. It wasn’t something that brightened the soul of our people and truly it had no lasting effect.” Asked if he did not think the reinstatement of the death penalty reflects the will of the population, he said, “No. I think it reflects the will of a group of people who are rather loudmouthed.” Asked if advocates of hanging see it as an “easy route” instead of making efforts at systemic changes, he agreed, “Yes, it is. If the causes of crime and violence are not attended to, crime and violence will continue.

“Hanging will not stop drugs from coming into the country.

Hanging will not stop people fighting for ‘turf ’, and so the murders will continue.

“And you ask yourself, who brings in the drugs and who brings in the guns? It is not the poor boys from Laventille and Sea Lots and wherever else in Trinidad. They don’t have the money to do that,” Fr Harris said.