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STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE FROM THE RELIGIOUS SUPERIORS CONFERENCE OF KENYA
(R.S.C.K) AS IT EXPRESSES THE SHOCK OF THE MURDER OF YET ANOTHER PRIEST

STOP THE CARNAGE!

NAIROBI-KENYA

APRIL 3, 2007

As Rev Fr Martin Addai, former lecturer in Tangaza College and Rector of
the Missionaries of Africa (M.AFR) Theological House of Formation was
laid to rest on Saturday March 31, 2007; we the Religious Superiors
Conference of Kenya react to the violent death, shocking as that may be.

Fr Addai was another good an innocent missionary whose life has been
violently cut short by gunfire. It happened in the early afternoon of
March 10th on a lonely street in of Nairobi.

As we call to action to condemn the 'merchants of death' in our nation,
please tell us what we can say to his religious brothers shocked by this
tragedy? Counsel us on the consolation we might bring to his grieving
family in Ghana. Help us also stop the creeping violence now engulfing
us before we reach a point of no return.

Predictably the cry has gone up for the government to do more and so it
should. But while we may relieve ourselves of responsibility by calling
on the government and police on such occasions we must also look to our
own role and share in the perpetuation of such madness. For violent
crime is having a field day now, not just because the government should
do more but also, because ordinary citizens are doing too little.

The enemy among us and the demons within us are growing stronger by the
day because too many among us seem to be promoting a culture of
violence. We see this attitude when for whatever reason we withhold
information from the police and from those who are responsible for
security in this country, because we do not wish to get involved. We see
it in all those indirect criminals who while they do not use a gun,
harbour those who do it or refuse to cooperate with the forces of the law.

We do not have any universal remedy to deal with this situation.
Nevertheless we do believe that if the nation is to move forward the
trends that are destroying the nation must be arrested and our culture
redirected.

Today each of us is called to do what it takes to abolish the gross
inequalities which drive people to criminal behaviour, which creates
insecurity for ordinary citizens and guests of this nation, including
police and night watchmen alike, which breeds hopelessness among many
youth for their future, and this is just mentioning a few areas. The
violence spouting from the barrels of guns is a symptom of a city and
indeed a nation at war with itself. Like successes, it has a thousand
fathers.

While we believe that the scourge of poverty at intolerable levels is a
strong contributing factor we add a deeper root: it is a loss of
confidence in the power of the word as an instrument of conflict
resolution. There is a profound erosion of moral authority pervading
many sectors of our society and institutions today, a corruption of the
mind that has entered the blood stream of our daily activities.

The soul of the nation is at stake and the lives of many innocent people
are in our hands. The barbaric, senseless killing and robbing of
ordinary, innocent PEOPLE highlights the mindless disregard for the
sanctity of life. These are symptoms of a society that is clearly
losing its spiritual compass and, as a consequence, all vestiges of
civilized living.

But just as we may be reaching alarming level of crime, it is never too
late to stop and turn things around. If we call ourselves followers of
a just and compassionate God then we must have that unique love that has
the courage to make demands on ourselves and on others.

We have to be pro-active as advocates of change lest by doing nothing we
encourage the doers of evil. 'All that is needed for evil to triumph
is for good people to do nothing.'

We must never give up on each other and on our ability to do something
because God never gives up on us. While many of the youth of our time
search in vain for genuine spiritual and political leadership we are all
challenged to engage in a culture of daily living where respect for
human rights and life is held to be sacred and honoured

While we reiterate and acknowledge that ultimate responsibility is
squarely on the shoulders of the Government and Police Force to provide
Protection and Safety for the people in this Nation, we have to become
more involved in the struggle to defeat the evil forces of crime and
death in this potentially great country.

The agents of evil who kill and murder people cannot be tolerated and
have to be stopped by all of us. 'Leo ni Leo'. Tuamke.!

Fr. Patrick Devine SMA

Chairman of RSCK

The Religious Superiors Conference of Kenya . (R.S.C.K)

(Representing 63 International and National Religious
Congregations/Orders of the Catholic Church working in Kenya )