It might take the church entering the schools and spreading the Gospel to help curb the increasing youth violence.
This was view of Monsignor Vincent Blackett as he delivered a message to the congregation of the Our Lady Queen of the Universe after they had performed the 14 Stations of the Cross through the surrounding neighbourhoods yesterday.
Speaking outside the Black Rock church at the end of the hour-long procession, Monsignor Vincent decried the level of violence in today’s society but asked: “How do we win these young people to know Jesus? How do we make that love of God real in a society that has become so very cold, where people see nothing wrong in killing another person?”
He then noted a “great deal of responsibility” was on Christians and the church to help change society.
“It is so very sad that people can be so brutal, that people can be so cruel. And all around us, even in our schools, we are seeing what is happening to some of our children,” he told his parishioners.
“Sometimes you see on the social media children fighting and carrying on like real animals and what I find so sad is to see that a lot of young women are engaging in these activities,” he said.
Monsignor Vincent stressed church was not only about going into a building “Sunday after Sunday or day after day and kneeling down and saying prayers”.
“I think that as Christians we need to get into the schools and to teach people the Gospel. Each one of us can teach some of the young people. We have to begin with the young ones,” he said. (HLE)