Anglican Church wants out

Asked about what Government was doing to protect the boys who were placed there by the State, Rowley told the media on Friday at the Piarco International Airport on his return from the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Grenada, “Right now, the State is facing some of those claims, or, is exposed to serious payments for liabilities.” When St Michael’s was designated an area to house the boys, he said, it was done prematurely.

The law which put certain things in place required conditions which have not been met.

The attorney general who created the law during the previous administration, he said, knowing that the conditions were not met, proclaimed the law into force. The former attorney general as an attorney at law now, he said, has moved to the courts and has started filing claims against the State.

During a recent dinner with Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley, Rowley said, the subject of the home formed the major part of their conversation.

The Office of the Prime Minister, under whose portfolio the protection of minors comes under, he said, is doing all it can to protect the boys who would have come from backgrounds with troubling circumstances.

Apart from the legal issues, he said, there are difficulties which are causing the Anglican Synod “to come to the conclusion that they want to get out of this bit of public service.” The recent escape of 11 and the subsequent recapture of some, he said, is one such case.

Rowley said the management of the young males at the home is now a matter of great concern to the Anglican Church and it wants to get out if it.

Giving a background to the problems, he said the Anglican Diocese started out by providing a church/humanitarian service to the community.

Sometime later, in order to provide a pension to the staff working at the home, a decision was taken to enable them to fall under the aegis of the Statutory Authorities Services Commission (SASC).

“That was the beginning of sorrow. In order to solve that problem, they created another,” he said.

With the staff coming under the SASC, he said, “The Church lost control of the staff, and the staff basically took the position that the church could not tell them nothing, and it became a general free for all.” The management of the staff fell down, and the church, he said, could not provide the quality of staffing that the circumstances required.