ROMAN Catholic archbishop of Kingston the Most Rev Lawrence Burke yesterday expressed anger and outrage at the brutal murders of eight persons in three different incidents over the past two weeks and called on the nation to draw a line and take a stand against crime and violence.

In a statement in which he acknowledged that he had not publicly decried Jamaica’s downward spiral of murder, Archbishop Burke said he was moved to speak out because of the murder on Wednesday afternoon of 63-year-old Vilma Mais on the compound of the Stella Maris Catholic Church in Kingston.

Mais, the wife of attorney Peter Mais, was attacked by a man who rode onto the church compound and demanded her handbag and cellular phone. When she refused, the man stabbed her with a knife. She was taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies where she died.

“The brutal and senseless slaying of Mrs Vilma Mais, following so closely upon the vicious and calculated murders of the women and innocent children in St Thomas, along with the killing of a promising young boy in Mona, has filled me with anger and outrage,” Burke said.

“We cannot deny that good things are happening in Jamaica,” he added. “But the spectre of crime: murder, rape of young girls and boys, and a sense of hopelessness in face of all of this, hangs over us like a pall.”

He said he had to speak out because he could not allow the life of such a loving and caring person like Mais to be snuffed out without a word.

“.We should not and cannot allow a society hell bent on self-destruction to continue to rob us of such promising, committed, selfless and productive persons. Vilma Mais was an example of true Christian faith and courage,” said Burke.

Mais was a volunteer in the church’s prison outreach programme which visited the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre as well as the Tamarind Farm Correctional Centre offering counselling to the inmates.

The other murders to which the archbishop referred were those of 15-year-old Jordano Flemmings in Mona on March 14, and the six members of a St Thomas family – Lloyd McCool, 3, Jessie Ogilvie, 9, Farika Martin-McCool, 27, Sean Chin, 8, Terry-Ann Mohammed, and Jhaid McCool, 6 – who were killed over the February 25-26 weekend.

“When will this carnage stop?” Burke asked.

He recommended that Jamaicans move away from self-made idols, and return to worship the living and true God.

At the same time, he said the nation was reaping what it has sown. “Corrupt practices such as patronage, the relationship between politicians and unprincipled community dons (alleged at least), and political tribalism must be dismantled,” he said.

Rev Burke also hit out against irresponsibility in sexual relationships, saying too many children were being born who had no sense of purpose or hope.

“In addition, our education system continues to ‘graduate’ persons with limited literacy and unusable skills. Our young men are particularly affected, and the church, which is a major source of socialisation, has failed to reach enough persons,” said the Catholic archbishop.

Yesterday, the Stella Maris Church called a council meeting to discuss improved security arrangements at the church. The Stella Maris Prep School, which is only a few metres from the church, has also put in additional security personnel.

Father Michael Lewis, rector at the church, told the Observer yesterday that Mais’ murder had raised concern among the church members, and that a general meeting of members will be held Sunday to discuss proposals put forward by the council to improve security at the church.

“We want to look at what can be done, what we should do and how we are going to do it,” said Father Lewis.

Sister Jacqueline Maria, principal for the Stella Maris Prep School, said the additional security was in response to the concerns of parents about the safety of their children.

“We have set in place additional personnel at both entrances of the school until we have a board meeting to discuss the matter,” she said.

Yesterday, the church was like a ghost town with a few cars in the parking lot. Members of the public who would normally make use of the church’s feeding programme were turned away as the church had scaled down its activities for the day.

Only one woman was seen making her way to the chapel for prayer. She cried openly in her motor vehicle before she went to the chapel.

Meanwhile, police investigators, including Assistant Commissioner of Police Leslie Green, were at the church gathering evidence. Green told the Observer that the police had managed to seize the bicycle the assailant was riding at the time of the attack. However, he could not say whether they had any leads in the killing.