Dear Sir,
Please permit me to call a spade a spade, notwithstanding that I have waited patiently to use the local dialect, to knock His Grace Archbishop Robert Rivas and to call him out as a dis-grace, even as a practicing Catholic myself.
In the Times of Saint Lucia it was reported that the head of the Roman Catholic Church Archbishop Robert Rivas said, “That a clear signal must be sent to persons affected by the alleged extra judicial police killings, that justice is being done and corrective, disciplinary measures are being taken.”
Archbishop Rivas had the audacity to say that he was concerned about the moral issues involved in the report that was prepared by the members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, (JCF). No matter what we think of someone who is identified as a criminal, no matter how bad a person is considered to be, there must always be respect for life, and that the report did not reflect well on the police… and that, regardless of what happens, the nation needs the police and proper action by the authorities will restore confidence in the law enforcers.
Archbishop Rivas. Photo courtesy stluciastar.com
Before Archbishop Rivas can pontificate on matters that clearly separate church and state, he must speak to the issue related to the Catholic church “pillage and plunder” of 600-plus acres of land in Bouton, Quarter of Soufriere, and why the church is evicting residents from the land, and colluding to evade the laws of natural justice and the laws of Saint Lucia pertaining to a last will and testament.
Second his dis-grace [Rivas] must cleanse his hands, wash his garments and purify his soul of the unholy ploy of allegations of inappropriate behaviour incompatible with the priesthood that surrounded Fr Steve Quinlan’s unjust removal from the parish of Gros Islet and Saint Lucia. All of which was proven untrue! So much so that Fr Steve Quinlan, according to informed sources, will soon return to Saint Lucia, to be stationed at a rural parish on the east coast of Saint Lucia. For clues, a new parish priest is anticipated in Gros Islet and a new administrator at the cathedral in Castries.
Archbishop Rivas has to stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He needs confession for the continual disrespect and the disrepute he led on Fr Quinlan and his family. Rivas needs to fast and pray for forgiveness from his attempt to unduly defame the character of Fr Quinlan and his family. Rivas needs to pray over his scant disregard for a fellow priest in Saint Lucia and should consider leaving the Archdiocese of Castries, Saint Lucia, for his failures as a shepherd.
Archbishop Robert Rivas needs to make available to the Quinlan family the findings of the bogus investigation, the recommendations, the role of the Vatican and the canon law that gave reason for alleged atrocities and to publicly ask for forgiveness, in the same manner he wrongfully denounced Fr Quinlan and his family.
Thereafter Rivas may have the moral authority on matters of social justice, the rule of law and the teachings of the bible to represent the Catholic Church in Saint Lucia with some degree of authority.
For Archbishop Rivas to engage in the current national discourse on security matters, investigations and so on without cleansing himself is disingenuous beyond biblical proportions. His affectation of caring, his calls for justice are words compatible with politicians in an election campaign and clearly outside the jurisdiction in which Rivas holds no importance, except of false pretence, during the Catholic season of Lent.
Tori Fatal
See more at: http://stluciatimes.com/article/archbishop-calls-justice#sthash.ANdZjpHh.dpuf
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