Dear friends

I expect like me you have been disturbed once again by the images of violence on the streets of Merseyside and further afield. Until a week ago many had never heard of Croxteth. Then 11 year old Rhys Jones was shot in this middle-class suburb of Liverpool and the whole country was stunned by the horror of the murder of an innocent young boy.

Heysel, Hillsborough, James Bulger and now Rhys Jones, Liverpool is a city that is well acquainted with grief.

I expect you will all have your own opinions on this subject. Mine is that what we see happening now is the result of 30-40 years of retreat from discipline and respect for authority. Liberal modernists who reject discipline and correction as repressive, have deceived some parents and educationalists to such an extent that discipline has all but disappeared from many homes and parental responsibility becomes almost a thing of the past. In many schools discipline has become so undermined that many teachers have left the profession and there is evidence to prove that 1 in 5 teachers have suffered some degree of physical violence from their pupils.

These advocates of the permissive society tell us that it brings freedom and self-expression; that it liberates from repression and stifling respectability. I submit, however that it has been one of the main contributing factors for the breakdown of our society. Recently the Bishop of Liverpool James Jones was quoted in the media as saying "with the rise in adolescent lawlessness, we have to revisit the role and responsibility of parents. We need some radical interventions that engage these parents so that having themselves been deprived of positive parenting; they can learn the skills of building up a child's self-esteem and managing conflict."

Bishop James also suggests that other contributing factors are the increasing breakdown of relationships with the police and the community and with young people. The poverty of generations of unemployment. The breakdown of family life and low self-esteem amongst young people.

People yearn for big solutions. What is the single decisive action that can be taken? In my opinion the truth is that any solution will be made up of lots of small incremental initiatives by a wide range of people across the community. But the death of Rhys Jones has taught us that the whole of our society will have to take part in those changes. Otherwise the violence that has for so long been confined to the dysfunctional parts of the inner city will envelope us all.

Times of violence and decadence have occurred before but they have been righted in the end. What is needed of the Church today and all Christian people, is that in the words of St Paul, "we refuse to conform to the standards of the world" We should be steadfast in our Christian values upholding the teachings of Jesus Christ and not be fearful of giving them voice in society". The Church can contribute to the whole debate on violence and gun culture in society for we still have something to say.
Finally, let us remember that it will take more than human wisdom and endeavor to bring about the changes that our society so desperately needs. We will require God's help and power to uphold what is good and to resist what is evil.

This, I hope, will be central to your prayer life.

I leave the last word to our Bishop who said in last weeks Church Times, "In the chapel at Bishop's Lodge is a sculpture by Stephen Broadbent, showing Jesus standing outside the city, weeping and pleading through his tears: 'if only you knew the things that make for peace...'

They have been my watchwords in both Hull and Liverpool. They are words for our time."

May all our thoughts and prayers be with the parents and family of little Rhys Jones and all who have lost loved ones to mindless violence recently.

Your friend and Vicar