A requiem for Father Martin

Peter Espeut

FRIDAY IS International Fisherman's Day celebrated by the FAO of the UN, and I had prepared to write about that today. But for me, this past week has been overshadowed by the murder of another Roman Catholic priest, my good friend Fr. Martin Royackers, S.J.

A few weeks ago, Martin called me and invited me to a meeting in Annotto Bay of all the school board chairmen and principals of Catholic schools in Portland and St. Mary, to discuss improvements which we could implement in our schools.

Despite living in Clarendon, I remain chairman of the Avocat Primary and Junior High School in the Buff Bay Valley of Western Portland, and so I was happy to attend. That meeting took place last Tuesday, and a useful meeting it was too! He was murdered later that night. Little did I know as I said goodbye that it would be for the last time!

Martin really cared for the people he served. Aside from being pastor of the Catholic church communities in May River, Timsbury, Long Road, Pleasant Hill, Islington and Annotto Bay, he was chairman of two all-age schools: May River and Mt. Joseph.

When I had charge of the Catholic church at Belfield Line in the hills overlooking the Wag Water estuary and Annotto Bay, he would come whenever I invited him, to preach at our crusades. The people loved him! Although he was from Canada, he became Jamaican. I don't mean that he affected Jamaicanisms as some do, but he came to love Jamaican culture and adopted much of it into his personal spirituality. He loved Jamaican church music, particularly the Bible-based choruses so typical of rural church communities, and he knew so many of them that he could always pick one or three relevant to the subject of his homily. He encouraged the use of revival-style drumming during his church services, a cultural adaptation which may yet have far-reaching consequences for Roman Catholic evangelisation.

It was for this (and the desire to show my rural bias) that I sought and received permission from Archbishop Clarke to be ordained a deacon at Annotto Bay. It was a glorious afternoon, and the music was uplifting. The logistics for my ordination were largely implemented by Fr. Martin. I shall always be grateful to him, and I shall miss him.

Fr. Martin was a member of the religious order called the 'Society of Jesus', or 'The Jesuits'. These men are highly-trained academics, and Martin was no different.

He was in demand as a lecturer at St. Michael's Theological Centre in Kingston, and he was well spoken of as a teacher and thinker. He was specially trained in issues of social justice and rural development, and applied his intellect to the special problems in St. Mary.

Realising that marketing was a much bigger problem than production, he and his fellow Jesuits, without much fanfare, organised a marketing co-operative which sold tons of produce from eastern St. Mary in Kingston every week. Agricultural tools and planting material, fertilisers and extension assistance were provided to farmers in the area, which meant that money was put directly into the pockets of many.

The Jesuits have tried to improve the status of Jamaican small farmers, and the struggle is continuing. Martin will be sorely missed by many in those St. Mary hills. He was an earthy man, close to the soil, and often when I saw him, he looked as if he had just come from the fields, and often he had. When he is laid to rest tomorrow in the soil of May River, St. Mary, his wishes will have been respected. He lived for his people, and he may well have died for them. He will certainly be buried with them.

Martin was a strong advocate against capital punishment. He would not wish his murderer to be executed, but he would wish him to be exposed, and the reason for his murder brought to light. Martin was a strong advocate of justice for the poor, and was a member of the Human Development and Social Justice Commission of the Archdiocese of Kingston. He penned several statements which have become church policy and pastoral advice. Justice, after all, has everything to do with truth and transparency, and that is what we really lack.

As we see 1980 being played out again before our very eyes, the link between politics and guns is denied by each party for themselves, but the other party is accused of having gunmen who are on the offensive.

Reap the whirlwind

Both the PNP and the JLP are guilty of sowing the wind, so that innocent Jamaicans - and exceptional persons like Martin - reap the whirlwind. The real tragedy of the coming general election is that whoever wins will be part of the problem, rather than the solution.

As advocates of justice like Fr. Martin Royackers and Fr. Howard Rochester and Fr. Ron Pieters are gunned down in our midst, we all are the poorer, and the voices raised against corruption grow fainter.

Who will be next, we all ask? If more and more of those who hear the calls for justice coming from people like Martin, themselves become advocates for justice, they will not have enough bullets to shoot us all down.

Peter Espeut is a Roman Catholic deacon, and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.

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