Priest urges prayers for wayward youths
Clint Chan Tack Monday, August 14 2006

A ROMAN Catholic priest yesterday called upon the population to pray for young men who fall into a life of crime rather than hope that they will solve the gang problem plaguing several communities in Trinidad and Tobago, by eliminating each other.

This was the call issued yesterday by Father Dwight Merrick to the hundreds who braved yesterday’s heavy showers to attend mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Laventille following a peace march through the hills of Belmont and Laventille earlier. In delivering the sermon, Fr Merrick also announced the launch of a community outreach initiative called “Prodigal Sons” that will involve groups of parishioners and others praying a decade of the Rosary for wayward youths who were recruited into criminal gangs.

Noting that the procession up the hill to the church passed a place where a murder was committed last week, Fr Merrick said there was a view among many persons in the society that the security forces should just withdraw from communities where criminal gangs operate and simply let them kill each other. He added there were even some who prayed that these gangsters would eliminate one another and that this would bring an end to crime in the communities where gangs are operating.

Merrick declared such views to be fallacies because a former gang member allegedly told him that people are not killed if they leave gangs because there are “so many recruits” waiting to take their place. The priest said it was clear that the Devil had “put down roots in society,” was forging ahead with his plans for destruction and it was time for the people of God “to do their part” and oppose Satan’s designs.

Blaming delinquent parenting for the reason why so many young men end up in criminal gangs, Merrick said these men “need more prayers than ever” and this was why the Laventille RC Church had launched its “Prodigal Sons” initiative. He explained that the project involved the recruitment of people into groups who would pray for deviant young men in the community to repent their wicked ways and the names of those persons would be given to the groups.

Fr Merrick said many of these youths were ready “to die at a moment’s notice” because they felt their lives were worthless because they had no proper home environments and were forced to drop out of school.

He said these youths were victims who transferred victimhood onto the rest of society and the feeling of fear they gave to others made them feel important, even if it was just for a moment.

Fr Merrick said the door should never be closed on these youths and told the congregation of an incident where a former gang member, who was reported to have been murdered, turned up alive and attributed his survival to the fact that he was wearing a rosary around his neck at the time he was attacked.

Noting the plethora of bad news which seems to fill the newspapers on a regular basis, the priest urged the congregation to pray for all those holding leadership positions in TT if they believe that their leaders have disappointed them. He also criticised Catholics and Christians who engage in “simy dimy” and follow false teachings rather than trust in God.