The Editor, Sir:

The Archbishop of Kingston has yet again shown how distanced he is from the realities around us, by banning Deacon Ronnie Thwaites from preaching, as reported in your Saturday Gleaner.

Were the goodly Deacon to have been banned because his sermons were deemed to have been political, then I would have no issue with such a decision. To ban him due to the fact that, as a deacon, he should not put himself to run for public office, is a stupid decision and implies that the Archbishop could never foresee a man of the cloth getting that calling from God to represent the poor in a tangible way.

Politics divisive

True, our politics has the history of being divisive, but Archbishop Burke should realise that good men running for such offices will not only help change the perception of divisiveness, but also the type of politics that we Jamaicans have become far too accustomed to. Is the Archbishop so concerned with the character of those ordained in the Catholic Church to feel that none of them are capable of being involved in the political arena and not associating with gunmen, or not incorporating partisan politics into their sermons, or is it simply that he wanted Thwaites out and created a red herring to achieve his goal?

As a practising Roman Catholic, Archbishop Burke should remind himself of the values taught to us in our own church and appreciate that the mere fact that one happens to be a deacon, should not in itself rule him out from preaching the Word of God, unless it can be proven that he has done something wrong. Make no mistake, I am no fan of Deacon Thwaites, nor the party that he represents, but to be fair to him, I have sat and heard him read the Gospel on a Sunday morning and never once have I heard him trying to influence the congregation on political matters, as he may tend to do on his radio talk show. As such, one must be objective and call a spade a spade and not be blinded enough to refer to a jackass as a racehorse.

The only one who seems to be playing politics, or mixing religion with politics, is the Archbishop himself! With such short-sighted, irrational and biased decisions, it is little wonder that the Catholic Church continues to lose touch with the young people and will continue to bemoan the fact that fewer of them are coming forward to serve as sisters, priests, deacons or lay ministers.

Wake up Archbishop, a new day dawned many, many decades ago.

I am, etc.,

RICHARD STEWART

stewedpeas@yahoo.com