Two leading religious figures have expressed deep concern over the island’s recent surge in homicides and violent acts, describing it as a “serious situation” that requires urgent action.
Anglican Bishop Right Reverend Michael Maxwell and Catholic Bishop Neil Scantlebury shared their views following a special mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral. They highlighted the alarming rise in violent crimes, particularly when compared to previous years.
Both religious leaders stressed the importance of early intervention and community involvement in addressing the root causes of violence. They called for a collaborative effort involving schools, families, churches, and the wider society to tackle the growing problem of violent crime in Barbados.
Bishop Maxwell noted: “The fact that we had a record high in 2019, which was in the high 40s, and already for the middle of the year we are almost half that number which was a record high. That is very disturbing.”
Both leaders pointed to a breakdown in societal values and inadequate support systems as contributing factors. Bishop Maxwell said, “All of us in society have to be blamed for this in terms of the level of neglect that we may have been doing to persons coming through the school system, coming up in the home, even the church at times.”
The bishops expressed particular concern about the increase in violence among young girls. Bishop Maxwell observed: “We would say the women and the girls never used to fight, it used to be always the guys fighting, but we seem to be lacking respect for human life in general.
“I am concerned that when [the level of violence] passes onto the females now, then who else? We are all concerned about our young girls, and it is all about anger management. We are hearing it time and time again that unfortunately many are unable to resolve conflict in the best way possible, and again a lot of this is [due] to the way they were brought up within the homes.
Catholic Bishop Neil Scantlebury
“[Children] are not being either brought to the church or raised in the church, or raised with some level of faith or moral upbringing that can hopefully guide them in their way of life. To see individuals as their brother and sister and not just any other human being who they can just treat as they feel like.”
To address these issues, the Anglican diocese plans to launch programmes in schools to help students with anger management and other social challenges. Bishop Maxwell explained: “We have been trying to get back into the schools in relation to offering some counselling and other services in the schools. We also for a long time, though interrupted by COVID, have been trying to get into the schools and identify young persons who may be struggling in their lives in this point in time, so that the nearby churches to those schools can link with their families and try to assist them where we can.
“We need to target them as early as possible before they come out of school. That is a programme that the chair of our social justice committee, Reverend Sandra Hazel, has been in contact with the Ministry of Education on, and she is to speak to me on Tuesday on how we can enter that from September this year.”
Bishop Scantlebury emphasised the need to teach values to young people: “We need to teach our youngsters, those in primary and secondary school, values. We need to teach them the value of forgiveness, we need to teach them the value of prayer, we need to teach them the value of looking to the other person with kindness and love. We need to teach them the values that would help them become better people.
“If we want a better Barbados it starts with them, but it does not end there.”
The Catholic Church is also considering intervention sessions for at-risk families. Bishop Scantlebury added: “I’m thinking of doing healing sessions for families; all of our families are in need of healing. We individuals don’t realise the baggage that we are bringing along from our great parents and beyond, coming down the road with. Therefore, the healing of families is a very important tool.”
