The Two Grenadas: Our Current Political Deadlock and What the Church Can Do About It?
Yours truly (Vonnie James) was privileged to attend both the October 19:
National Ecumenical Service in Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of October 19, 1983 (National Heroes Day) and the October 25: National Ecumenical Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving.
In both services, the preachers Fr. Sean Doggett of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint George in Grenada and Pastor Jerome Gordon of the Grenada Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists respectively — proved both intellectual excellence and spiritual acumen.
And yet as I sat in these two spiritual activities, the realization that we are living in two Grenadas thundered into my consciousness. These two Grenadas continue to pervade our Grenadian reality regardless of which political party formed the ruling administration. These two Grenadas continue to parade in expressions of challenging the police system, where the poor can be charged for illegality, while the privileged could drive away from the police with impunity; where unequal pay between males and females remain, and then for those in authority, access to healthcare is simply as booking a plane ticket for a hospital appointment in the
United States.
Mr. Lyden Ramdhanny, entrepreneur and former Cabinet minister of the late Maurice Bishop — a past Prime Minister of Grenada — during his October 19 Commemoration Service remarks called for civil and political inclusivity in building Grenada and pushing it forward.
Mrs. Angela Bishop, the wife of former Prime Minister of Grenada, Maurice
Bishop, said about her husband, “Maurice never made choices to see how much he could get. He made choices to see how much he could give. How much he could serve.”
Is there a role for the Conference of Churches in Grenada (CCG) and the
Alliance of Evangelical Churches in Grenada (AEC) to play in this process? I can only answer this way. It is my humble opinion that the faith community must lead this process in uniting Grenada. Further I dear say the CCG working with the AEC must take this charge as part of our gift to Grenada, Grenadianism, and Grenada’s 50.
Rev. Dr. Osbert James, Moderator of the Presbyterian Churches in Grenada,
noted: “The Conference of Churches in Grenada came into being around the early to mid-1970s having evolved out of the Inter-Church Council for SocialWelfare, an ecumenical organization in Grenada which had been engaging in social and developmental work since the early 1960’s. When it came into being, the CCG’s objectives were simply “to foster Christian relationship between member churches, to teach and develop good living habits and to cooperate with existing organizations to build a just Christian Community” (Conference of Churches in Grenada, 2022).
We are in 2023 and the CCG, with different denominations, different nationalities, and diverse backgrounds continues to function to transform the lives of Grenadians. And because of its contextual sensitivity, experience, grit, and resilience, the CCG in collaboration with the AEC is the right body to lead the charge for a united Grenada. It begins with applying a simple philosophy: “I am because you are.”
Rev. Vonnie E James
Grenada Baptist Association
