Archbishop warns of ‘heavy price’

ROMAN CATHOLIC Archbishop Edward Gilbert said some people lived in such hopelessness that if it is not addressed, it could lead us all to pay a heavy price. He was speaking at the launch of  the President Arthur NR Robinson Poverty Eradication Fund hosted by the San Fernando Business Association (SFBA) at the Hilton Trinidad. Archbishop Gilbert recalled a parish priest relating how he had invited a group of psychiatrists to talk to a group of underprivileged youngsters.

“They had never heard such hopelessness from young people in their lives, their experiences of what they lived with day after day.” Welcoming the fund, Gilbert said: “For people with no hope words mean very little but signs and symbols communicate. This fund is a symbol of hope.” He said the fund was a sign of sensitivity and commitment to confront poverty. “It comes at a time when hope is needed.” Gilbert recalled President George Maxwell Richards saying poverty was dehumanising and it evoked contempt not sympathy from those who have never known want or who are able to make a living. He observed: “While long-term and medium-term planning is needed, there are people currently trapped in poverty who are asking ‘What about me? What about now?”’ 

To tackle poverty and other problems, said Gilbert, people had to create partnerships which would let them work together to build trust, which in turn would lead to the building of communities. But he warned any such partnership must not become just “a new club with limited membership” but should have outward-moving priorities. Gilbert remarked: “Hopelessness is a terrible way to live your life. If hopelessness becomes a common experience, it is a very dangerous social chemistry.” He said if we failed to turn his suggestions into reality we would pay a very heavy price.