Month: October 2017

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True shepherd – Archbishop-elect fits the bill

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 29, 2017

Leela Ramdeen (left) greets Archbishop-elect Jason Gordon after the October 19 press conference to announce his appointment. Looking on is Catholic News journalist Lara Pickford-Gordon. Photo: Raymond Syms

On behalf of members of CCSJ, I extend sincere congratulations to Archbishop-elect Jason Gordon. Since my return to T&T from London, I have been blessed to have worked with Archbishop Edward Gilbert and Archbishop Joseph Harris and, like the other members of CCSJ, I am so looking forward to working with the Archbishop-elect who, in fact, played a major role in the establishment of CCSJ after the first sitting of Synod in 2003.

Indeed, he was a member of CCSJ and I still recall attending some of the meetings he held in the parish hall at St Martin de Porres RC, Gonzales, where he was parish priest, and where he initiated/implemented the Pride in Gonzales and CITY projects. His ability to bring together key stakeholders and community members to seek to transform that community is legendary. The model he used is still valid today.

Tags death, event

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Children learn what they live

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 22, 2017

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

“It is time for fathers and mothers to return from their exile, because they have self-exiled from the education of their children, and to fully reassume their educational role…this can only be done with love, tenderness and patience.” – Pope Francis

We must consider also the importance of home, school, community partnerships in the education process. Pope Francis has also said: “…the educational pact today has been broken; and thus, the educational alliance between society and the family is in crisis because mutual trust has been undermined. There are many symptoms. For example, at school relationships between parents and teachers have been compromised.”

Tags violence, Youth

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JPCW 2017 focusses on the development of peoples

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 15, 2017

CCSJ urges all parishes and Catholic institutions in the archdiocese to plan/attend some of the events for Justice, Peace and Community Week (JPCW) which will run from Saturday, October 21to 28. The theme for the week is A Catholic perspective on the development of peoples. The theme commemorates the 50^th Anniversary of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) which was published in 1967.

Inter alia, he said: “Development cannot be limited to mere economic growth. In order to be authentic, it must be complete: integral, that is, it has to promote the good of every person and of all humanity”.

Tags JPCW, Justice Peace and Community Week (JPCW)., steelpan, Youth

columns2017

Poverty & Justice: a deadly mix

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 8, 2017

For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice. (Pope Francis)

On Tuesday, October 10, the World will observe the 15^th World Day Against the Death Penalty. The theme this year is: Poverty and Justice: a deadly mix. It “aims at raising awareness about the reasons why people living in poverty are at a greater risk of being sentenced to death and executed”.

CCSJ’s Chair is also Chair of the Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL), an independent, not-for-profit, regional civil society NGO working towards the abolition of the death penalty. Capital punishment remains in the legal system of 11 English-speaking countries in the region – of which two countries retain the mandatory death penalty for murder (T&T and Barbados).

Tags capital punishment, death penalty, poverty

columns2017

Tapping the talents, wisdom of the elderly

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 1, 2017

Pope Francis greets an elderly nun during his general audience in Paul VI hall in February at the Vatican. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, handout). — Pope Francis greets an elderly nun during his general audience in Paul VI hall in February at the Vatican. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano, handout).

Today, Sunday, is the International Day of Older Persons. The theme this year is: Stepping into the Future: Tapping the Talents, Contributions and Participation of Older Persons in Society. It is about “enabling and expanding the contributions of older people in their families, communities and societies at large. It focuses on the pathways that support full and effective participation in old age, in accordance with old persons’ basic rights, needs and preferences” (UN).

A report by the World Health Organisation in 2015 stated that “With advances in medicine helping more people to live longer lives, the number of people over the age of 60 is expected to double by 2050 and will require radical societal change – rising from 900 million in 2015 to 2 billion by 2050…governments must ensure policies that enable older people to continue participating in society and that avoid reinforcing the inequities that often underpin poor health in older age.

Tags elderly