Suggesting that pragmatism has taken over The Bahamas and that morality is taking a beating, retired Archbishop The Most Reverend Drexel Gomez said the Bahamian society is “reaping a whirlwind” of social distress.

Archbishop Gomez, who was a guest on the new Love 97 radio talk show On Point yesterday, said his recommendations made to the government in the mid 1990s to assist with societal issues were ignored and as a result the country is experiencing an array of problems which includes crime.

His recommendations suggested that evidence, provided by police, should be produced of the work done to combat “ugly” gangs which were popular during that era.

Unfortunately, Archbishop Gomez said the government neither the society was willing to accept at that time that crime was a serious problem, so it wasn’t addressed.

“Also we had the problem of what was going on in the neighbourhoods. We were suggesting that we train development officers who would be in the community, producing persons who would be on the ground,” he explained.

“Theologically, we call it incarnational thinking.  Putting human beings on the ground and the money spent for that per person would be less than what we pay for the inmates in prison. But the report just fell on deaf ears and now we are reaping the whirlwind.”

Archbishop Gomez explained further that the crime situation, apart from the drug element, is the subculture, which began to develop during the 1990s and is now visible in the Bahamian society.

“The subculture is ignorant.  It doesn’t have any church affiliation, selfish, out for me.  Not just the consumerism.  It is saying I must get it all for me and grab all I can possibly get.  No concern for the fellow human being,” he said.

“All of that has been flourished as opposed to human flourishing and we are reaping the benefits.”

Archbishop Gomez’s recommendations also addressed the country’s educational system which focused on students graduating from high schools without any skills and qualifications for the job market.

To assist with this, the archbishop recommended a training programme for students that would be based on volunteerism.

“I had also secured the assurance from senior civil servants and some retired teachers on how we can do it,” Archbishop Gomez said.

However, the government “totally ignored,” he said.  “I saw it as a failure to anticipate.”