At least 30 congregations of the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands reported severe destruction after Hurricane Melissa, according to the Gleaner. Some of these are our oldest buildings, some over 100 years old, said Rose Wedderburn, the denominations regional deputy general secretary. They were made from material that simply couldnt withstand a storm like this. Some just crumbled.
The damage cut across denominations and parishes: the Daniel Town Wesleyan Holiness Church in Trelawny destroyed outright, the roof torn off St Michaels Anglican Church in Clarks Town, the more than century-old St Thomas Anglican Church in Lacovia damaged, Mount Nebo Baptist Church in St Catherine and St Leonards Baptist Church in Westmoreland both hit hard. Jamaica has more than 1,600 churches, and the storm reached deep into that number in a matter of hours.
The government response has moved on two tracks. The Social Development Commission received a $75 million allocation to support church restoration, working with a Religious and Faith-based Task Force drawn from the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches to assess need across the five hardest-hit western parishes. Separately, the National Housing Trust is arranging concessionary loans for churches able to take on rebuilding debt, alongside a land titling initiative aimed specifically at churches sitting on land they have never formally registered.
Not everyone welcomed the public funding. St Catherine South Western MP Everald Warmington objected publicly, arguing taxpayer money should not go toward rebuilding church buildings and that shrinking congregations should amalgamate instead. Bishop Dr Alvin Bailey, president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, rejected the criticism, pointing out that church buildings had themselves served as emergency shelters and coordination centres in the weeks after the storm. Church facilities are frequently used as emergency shelters, coordination centres and meeting spaces, said SDC executive director Omar Frith. Supporting their recovery strengthens both the institutions and the communities they serve.
Wedderburn, for her part, has tried to hold both truths at once: real, historic loss, and a rebuilding process that forces a congregation to focus on people rather than buildings for a while. This will give us more time to focus on rebuilding lives, she told the Sunday Gleaner.
Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com
Visit our YouTube Community ↗