By Vernon Khelawan

A Roman Catholic priest says T&T is cultivating a “culture of death,” a situation which has arisen because of the growing lack of respect for life.

Fr Reginald Hezekiah, parish priest of St Charles RC Church in Tunapuna, made the statement while delivering his homily during the funeral service for 15-year-old Malcolm Minerve.

Minerve died in an accident on the Priority Bus Route near the Eddie Hart ground on Independence Day.

Hezekiah told the congregation there was no longer any respect for life in T&T, because death had become so commonplace, whether it be through reckless driving on the roads or the senseless murders every day.

Referring to the Scriptures, Hezekiah said:

“Just as Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, I am almost certain that He is weeping over Trinidad and Tobago.”

He said this came about because the country had “lost the ability to love.”

Turning his attention to the many students at the funeral, he exhorted them to respect their bodies, referred to in the Catholic Church as the “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

He urged them to respect their parents, teachers and seniors.

Minerve, a student of El Dorado Secondary, together with two other friends, were hit as they were crossing the PBR in Tacarigua, just yards from where the youngster lived.

It is alleged that the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident was using the bus route illegally.

When the ambulance arrived to take the injured teen to a medical facility, an argument arose over the ambulance driver’s decision to go to Arima Health facility, instead of the closer Mount Hope.

The family was told that place where the accident occurred meant that he had to go to Arima.

Had it happened on the other side of the traffic lights, then Mount Hope would have been the destination.

Minerve’s relatives believe if he been taken to Mount Hope he might not have died.

Scores of students from several schools in the area attended the funeral.