The Retreat of Catholicism and the Rise of the Gangs

From Rio to Croydon

I received this reaction to my article about gang-related violence in Trinidad. I find it wise and revealing, so here it is:

“Very interesting commentary. Coming from Brazil, I can witness to the devastation caused by gang warfare, affecting everyone in society, but especially the poor. A thread in common in gang recruitment, is the seeking of belonging and father-figures amongst young people, especially but not exclusively, young males. Girls are also seduced by the perceived “protection” that powerful gangsters can provide, and many will “wear” a gangster as a badge of honour. The greatest tragedy in affluent media such as the Guardian, is the blissful (and convenient) turning a blind eye to the documented fact that almost always in places of gang warfare, from Brazil to Croydon, family structures are dysfunctional or non-existent. This is something that evangelical, Pentecostal churches have realised very early, and they work in promoting family values in a practical, tangible way. Dad converts and goes clean, stops beating the wife/girlfriend, and leads said wife/girlfriend and offspring to the Kingdom of God cult. The congregation grows exponentially.”

As every Catholic knows, the growth of the Pentecostal Churches in Latin America is remarkable and there are some places where Catholics are now in a minority, such as Honduras, thanks to widespread defection to what are disparagingly termed las sectas, ‘the sects’. But instead of lamenting or denying this, one should really ask why it is happening.

Young men, at a loose end, want a reason to exist, especially in societies where there is widespread unemployment, where they can be made to feel useless. Gangs give them a sense of belonging, ‘respect’ and an illusory feeling of self-worth. Of these the first is crucial: we all want to belong, don’t we? None of us want to feel like a spare part, and men who can’t find honest work are disheartened.

Gangs and religion have a connection. Gangs have leeched off religion, and stolen a lot of its paraphernalia. This is the case, I think, with the Islamists; and it is certainly the case with the Mexican cartels, who have their own pseudo-religious cults such as la Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde. The Mafia too are addicted to Saints and have their own Robin Hood figure in Salvatore Giuliano. But the point is this: where there is a religious vacuum, gangs will fill it. The gang is a sort of anti-Church.

La Santa Muerte, very dear to the cartels.

Catholicism is in worldwide retreat, let no one doubt, and the gangs are on the increase, from Rio to Croydon. A religious renewal is the answer to gang violence, as gang violence is primarily a moral problem at root, not an economic one, but contemporary Catholicism in many parts of the world is failing to provide people with a strong sense of identity and a profound sense of adherence to a worldwide community that elicits their love and loyalty. Milk and water Catholicism fails to do this; funnily enough the few Catholic communities that do have this strong sense of belonging, in Europe at least, are those that have sprung up around the celebration of the now much restricted traditional Latin Mass.

So what needs to be done? The answer should be clear: strong preaching about Fatherhood: the Fatherhood of God, the vocation to fatherhood of men and adolescents, and a strongly visible priesthood which exemplifies spiritual fatherhood, along with a devotion to male saintly fathers, primarily Saint Joseph, but not only him. Above all, strong preaching about Jesus Christ, the true exemplar of human behaviour; and finally, a liturgy that involves people at all levels and gives them the sense that the Church is a millennial project to which it is worth belonging.

The future looks like this: Catholics celebrate the Ugandan Martyrs, near Kampala, 2019

The good news is that this has been done before and is being done today. In nineteenth century industrialised Turin, don Bosco rescued many street children from falling into crime (contrast that with the world of Oliver Twist) and in contemporary Africa there is a Church that has a strong sense of identity and which rejects contemporary mores and celebrates powerful liturgies. So there is hope, to be found in our history, and in our current practices in Africa. But the task before the Church is enormous.