Fr Harvey: Society gave robbery suspects rotten deal

Harvey spoke with Newsday yesterday after a thanksgiving celebration for his 41 years of service to the Port of Spain Archdiocese at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in which he made the call for more compassion and understanding from society towards its youth. The Vatican announced last week that Harvey has been appointed Bishop of St George’s, Grenada.

“I don’t think in terms of forgiveness,” Harvey said. “I don’t think forgiveness is what I’m about. It’s not a question of me forgiving them, it’s a matter of them having to forgive us as a society for the rotten deal that we continue to give them.” He said while he understood the lives and circumstances of many young adults in T&T were regrettable, he challenged youths to take charge of their lives and make full use of the opportunities they had before them.

“Lift up your eyes and see the fullness of your possibilities because too many of you are selling yourselves short. Your destiny cannot be to kill and rob and steal. You must have a better destiny and you do have a better destiny.” Harvey also called on society not give up on its youth and encouraged parents and community leaders to continue their support and dedication to their children.

“The human animal is the only animal that has a choice between caring for its young and abandoning them. We have a choice to make: we can either care for them no matter what, or we can just write off some of them. But the latter choice can never be God’s choice. We must never give up on our young people.” He said while he had no advice to offer, he urged his successor to become more proactive in communities and emulate the work ethic and compassion of other community activists.

“The country is becoming more and more aware of the challenges we face and it’s not easy.

We should care for our young people and there are some people like the late Hal Greaves who have given their lives to it and there are others like Gregory Sloane- Seale and officers from the Inter Agency Task Force who are not simply police officers but have become much like fathers to the young men in these communities.”