- Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Rev. Neville Callam (right), and former JCC presidents, Rev. Dr. Stanley Clarke (left) and the Rev. Dr. Roy Henry (centre) share pleasantries during last Sunday's launch of 'Voicing Concern'. The book is a collection of statements made by the JCC during the period 1962-2002.
Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
HAS THE Church in Jamaica been mute on the major issues affecting Jamaica? Not so says the Rev. Neville Callam, who has just compiled and published a collection of statements issued by the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC). Of the 114 statements, 10 were issued in collaboration with other church groupings.
The publication, Voicing Concern, was officially launched last Sunday at the Tarrant Baptist Church, in Kingston. It covers the period 1962 to 2002 and expresses the JCC's concerns on: governance, crime and violence, employment, health and education, gambling, international affairs, natural disasters, abortion, prostitution, carnival, family life, social protests and the Masonic lodge.
The Rev. Neville Callam, a staunch ecumenist, is the pastor of the Tarrant and Balmagie Circuit of Baptist Churches. He has been chairman of both the JCC's Church and Society Commission (1989-1993) and its Faith and Order Commission (1993-2000).
Commenting on the reasons for its publication, he said, "I believe that the statements that have been made by the JCC over the years have been important enough to commend themselves to public scrutiny. They should be made available in one place so that the public may know what has been said."
"When statements are made these days or in the future, members of the public will be able to compare to see how the Council spoke on the issues before and what they are saying now, to see if there are any principles that are consistently maintained, to assess whether there are any ideological or political motives that are there."
"The Council has been accused very often of: Firstly, not speaking out on issues that they have spoken out on. Secondly, of saying one thing under one administration and saying another thing under another administration - or saying nothing at all. The record is now set straight," Rev. Callam said.
He continued: "The idea is to make something available to the general public so that they can have access to what the Council has said and to enable the public to make up its own mind about the nature of the ministry being offered by the Council without reliance entirely on commentaries that are made by talk-show hosts who have not done serious research.
The Rev. Mr. Callam, who is active in the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches expressed the view that the work would benefit students of theology, public-policy, and ethics.
He said too that there were times when the Council did not speak, not because it did not want to, but its structure did not best facilitate the putting out of statements on a timely basis, especially in instances when a rapid response would have seemed fitting. In the JCC, statements often had to be approved by heads of denominations before they could be released to the public. By the time the statements were issued, the matter had faded from the forefront of public consciousness.
A few of the statements in the volume, he noted, are not dated. But each statement bears the signature of the president or general secretary who served at the time. To that extent, the reader can get a sense of the time a particular statement was issued.
The statements are for the most part evenly spread for the 40-year period they cover - the exception is in the last decade. "The decision was made to take a more dialogical approach with different leaders in society. Statements did not always result from such dialogue but more was being accomplished. We felt it was more pastoral. People would see that we love them and we are not trying to embarrass them. We actually achieved more," said the Rev. Mr. Callam.
Rev. Callam, a former president of the Jamaica Baptist Union, stressed that the Council had produced statements on a range issues that many believe the Church had shied away from. These include a position on Masonic Lodges, the Street People Scandal, strikes and labour relations, and the CIA involvement in pastoral ministry. He showed from the book that most of the JCC's statements have not dealt with gambling but with governance, crime and violence and then gambling.
The book contains a brief introduction to the JCC. Before each chapter, where appropriate, it shows statements were informed by actual ministry done by the JCC. For example, on the matter of governance where the Council encouraged more women to be involved in representational politics, the church body had conducted and facilitated for a for women on the matter of political engagement, Rev. Callam said.
Making the same point at the book's launch was the Rev. Dr. Stanley Clarke, former president of the Council who pointed out that when the JCC spoke out on the matter of adult literacy, it was informed by its own National Literacy Campaign, which predated JAMAL (Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy). Furthermore, by the time JAMAL was born, JCC members gave full support and made property, class room space, and personnel available, the Rev. Dr. Clarke said.
The Rev. Dr. Clarke told the gathering that many of the statements issued by the JCC have not lost relevance. To illustrate, he quoted from a JCC statement issued in 1994 regarding political developments in Haiti - "Believing that priority must be given to steps to strengthen and consolidate the democratic process, the Council supports the view that the democratically elected President should be allowed to return and resume leadership of the country."
Voicing Concern, he said, "is no panacea for the JCC and the churches to now pat themselves on the shoulder and say 'well done good and faithful servants, you have vindicated yourselves by documenting the statements showing that you did certain actions in the past years'. On the contrary, it is a renewed call upon the people of God to persist in our mission, calling the nation to remembrance of the position on moral, theological, social, political, economical, health, educational, family life and other issues in general, calling the nation to repentance, prayer and reconciliation."
"I hope," said Rev. Callam, "the book will show that the Church is concerned and is integrally involved in people's lives and cares about what is happening to them."
