Children should get more involved in church activities!

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – “CHILDREN should get more involved in the activities of the church.”This is the view of Father Alric Francis of the St. James Anglican Church, who made the remarks at a special panel discussion on the factors influencing the crime rate in St. Kitts and Nevis. 

The discussion took place at a meeting on Thursday (Jan. 22) with members of the Parent Teacher’s Association of the St. James Primary School. 

Father Francis said that too often children are left to their own devices when parents should be paying more attention to them, especially in the area of church. He said there was a time when parents made it compulsory that their children went to church, by accompanying them, but now they are either dropped off or sent by themselves. 

He said that as a result of not being a part of church activities, children have no respect for what is done there and so are identifying with gangs.  

The outspoken Father Francis also said a lot of persons are saying that the church needs to do more to help curb the rising crime level, including going out into the community. He explained however, that those same people are members of one church or the other and should be able to do much more than make suggestions. 

Father Francis listed the bottom line as persons not applying enough of the morals of the church in their personal lives.
Also making short presentations to the PTA were Senior Officer at Her Majesty’s Prison, Glenville Julius; President of the youth group HOPE, Ron Daniel; and Officer Sean John of the Newcastle Police Station.

Julius said the majority of school dropouts do so because of a lack of respect for authority and parental supervision. He also said that juveniles make up 80 to 90 percent of the prison population in St. Kitts and Nevis. 

Daniel said society would never be able to totally eradicate crime. Citing the Moyne Report of 1946 which detailed the trials of the youth of the region, he said crime among young people is nothing new. 

The HOPE President said however, that society needs to become more involved in the lives of the youth if crime is to be kept to manageable proportions. He explained that adult needs to become a mother figure or a father figure. 

Officer John agreed with Daniel that crime could not be eliminated. He said the best the police could do is to keep it at an acceptable level. He pointed out that crimes are not caused but committed, and people chose to commit or not to commit them.
Officer John said police sometimes work with parents to straighten out troublesome children, but in most situations the police could not intervene without being asked. He urged parents and guardians who may be at their wits’ end dealing with problematic children to seek help since they may never know who might be able to assist.

The policeman said that while the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force may be guilty of selling itself short, some officers do donate their off duty time to help with troublesome youths. 

The panel later fielded questions from the audience before the meeting was adjourned in order for the PTA to conduct its own business.