Tough times leads people to church

Speaking to Sunday Newsday, Rochard said there generally has been an increase in attendance at church services throughout the archdiocese during Lent - a trend he predicts is likely to continue during Holy Week into the long Easter weekend.

“We have had great turnouts.

I am on the Mount (St Benedict) and we have had packed congregations,” he said.

Rochard, who last served as parish priest of the Church of the Assumption, Maraval, regarded the increase in attendance as a good sign.

He attributed the trend to the recession.

“I presume it is because things are not so good in the country where people now have to turn to prayers. Easter has its own clientele but even with Lent there was a bigger turnout that we have found.” The development comes at a time when the local Catholic church may very well be in transition in the wake of the resignation of Joseph Harris, 75, as Archbishop, last month. Pope Francis is yet to respond officially to the archbishop’s resignation.

Rochard said since the beginning of Lent in March, priests throughout the archdiocese have been taking head counts of people attending services “and we are now waiting on the results of that to hear what the story is to show much of an increase we had.” Rochard, who has been a priest for some 47 years, lamented the trend of people turning to the church only in times of crisis.

“Because things are troubling in the country with the crime and recession, people losing work, they are more conscious.

So, if I have a job, I am holding on to it as long as possible,” he said.

“The social climate makes people to pay closer attention to God and prayers because when they are too comfortable, they forget. When they too comfortable, they forget. They get numb they get numb.

“So, the increase in attendance is a good sign. Crisis brings people to a deeper consciousness of what should be.”