Last Sunday, while the Catholic Church marked its sacred Jubilee celebrations, Saint Lucians witnessed something shameful, and entirely predictable. His Grace Archbishop Gabriel Malzaire made a humble national appeal: suspend mass-crowd political events for one day. One day. A simple gesture of respect for the island’s largest faith community.
The Saint Lucia Labour Party honoured that request without hesitation.
The United Workers Party under Allen Chastanet pretended to agree, then trampled the Archbishop’s request under their campaign boots.
Instead of respect, the UWP chose revelry. Instead of restraint, they chose recklessness. While the Church prayed, the UWP blasted sound systems in Dennery, launched a manifesto, and scrambled desperately for votes. It was a spectacle of political opportunism so blatant it bordered on contempt.
But let’s not pretend this is some shocking new development. This is who the UWP is under Allen Chastanet. This is how they operate. This is their pattern.
Chastanet has spent years treating the Catholic Church as something to use, silence, or ignore depending on what benefits him most. Sunday simply tore the mask off, again.
If you think this latest insult was bad, remember 2020.
In 2020, Allen Chastanet actually demanded an apology from Archbishop Robert Rivas because he disliked the content of a sermon. A sermon. According to Archbishop Rivas himself, he was told he had “disrespected and offended the Prime Minister, the Honourable Allen Chastanet.”
Imagine the arrogance. Imagine the entitlement. A political leader confronting the Archbishop of the Catholic Church as though the pulpit was his personal PR podium.
That was the first red flag. On Sunday, we saw the full parade.
The UWP wants power so badly they are willing to bulldoze the moral authority of an institution that has guided Saint Lucia for generations. When the Archbishop asks for peace, they answer with amplifiers. When the Church asks for reverence, they respond with rallies. When the Church asked for cooperation, they turned a sacred celebration into a political stunt. When the nation asks for unity, they give division wrapped in campaign colours.
Their message is clear: The UWP’s political ambitions outweigh your faith, your traditions, your Church, and your values.
Saint Lucians deserve better than a party that weaponizes religion one day and disrespects it the next. They deserve leaders who understand that the Church is not a prop, not a pawn, and certainly not an obstacle.
On November 23rd, the UWP showed us exactly where they stand; And on 1st December, the country should not forget it.