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Giving thanks for Archbishop Joseph Harris

Post author By Web administrator
Post date December 17, 2017

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

Today we gather at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to give thanks to God for the vocation/fidelity to ministry of Archbishop Joseph Harris, the 10th Archbishop of our Archdiocese. In compliance with Canon 401(1) of the Code of Canon Law, His Grace submitted his resignation to Pope Francis in March 2017 when he reached the age of 75. He was 75 on March 19. Pope Francis accepted his resignation and on October 19, His Grace announced at a Press Conference that the Holy Father has appointed Archbishop-elect, Jason Gordon, as our next Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. He will be installed on December 27.

St Paul urges us to live in a manner worthy of our vocation (Ephesians 4:1–3). On December 26, 2011 Archbishop Harris was entrusted with the care of the ‘flock’ in our Archdiocese. Like a good Shepherd, he recognised that his duty extended to all those who dwell in our beloved twin-island and beyond, and to all God’s creation. Catholics do not live in isolation but in community. We are called to build right relationships with others and with our environment.

Press Release

Be peacebuilders

Post author By Web administrator
Post date December 11, 2017

The Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) urges citizens to be Peacebuilders in our land/world this Christmas. During this season of Advent, as we await the birth of the Christ-child, the Prince of Peace, let us remember that we must not be armchair Christians waiting passively.

This is a time of active hope; hope that the living Christ, who lives in and among us, will strengthen us to save our beloved country and our world which are scarred by violence and discord; hope that God will fill our hearts with His mercy, love, compassion and forgiveness so that we will live as honest/upright citizens.

Tags Advent, Christmas

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Promoting human rights

Post author By Web administrator
Post date December 10, 2017

Saturday, December 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day, and on Sunday, December 10, the world will observe Human Rights Day. This year marks the 69^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The foundation of all Catholic social justice principles is the inherent dignity of the human person—made in God’s image and likeness and the right to life from conception to natural death—the prerequisite of all other rights.

This inherent dignity is referred to in the first sentence of the preamble of the UDHR which states: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…” Our own T&T Constitution lists our fundamental rights and freedoms.

Tags human rights

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Reflecting on the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Post author By Web administrator
Post date December 3, 2017

On Monday, November 20, I addressed the members of the Catholic and Anglican communities of St Francis RC and St Margaret’s Anglican Church, Belmont, at a service organised by Fr Thomas Lawson OP and Rev Canon Ronald Branche, to remember the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. I share below extracts from my presentation. The music of GRACE Music Ministry was spiritually uplifting.

“We come together to heal and to build unity in Christ, our Lord. October 31, 2017 marked 500 years since Martin Luther, a university lecturer and Augustinian monk posted on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany, his 95 Theses – a list of criticisms of the Catholic Church’s doctrines and practices at that time e.g. he objected to the highly profitable sale of indulgences.

Tags ecumenism

columns2017

Which ‘HDC’ are you?

Post author By Web administrator
Post date November 26, 2017

At the end of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis initiated the World Day of the Poor. The theme for this first year is Let us love, not with words but with deeds (1 Jn 3:18). Let us take his advice, open our hearts and share “with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity…At the heart of all the many concrete initiatives carried out on this day should always be prayer…This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel. The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practise in our lives the essence of the Gospel.”