Gerard Granado

The Regional Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs has been praised for its contribution to Caribbean development and integration.

The words of praise have come from general secretary of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC), Gerard Granado.

The CCC, which has its secretariat based in Trinidad, currently has a membership of 33 Christian churches in 34 territories across the Dutch, English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean (www.ccc-caribe.org)

The Catholic Church is a founding member; one of the CCC’s three presidents is coadjutor Archbishop Donald Reece of Kingston, Jamaica.

In his January 14 letter to Seminary rector Msgr Michael de Verteuil, Granado said as a graduate he shares “in a very personal way” the sense of “joy and justifiable pride that no doubt pervades the Seminary community at this time”. Granado received theological studies during the period 1973 to 1978.

He described as invaluable the role the Seminary “has played over these many decades as a Caribbean regional institution” and recognised its contribution to “the enhancement of ecclesial life and ecumenical relations throughout the region and, more generally, to the broader issues of Caribbean development and integration”. 

“We pray on this occasion that the Lord may renew, and sharpen the focus of this vision making it a ‘vision … for its own time’ (cf Habakkuk 2:2) – one which will no doubt include in its purview the critical contemporary issues of the wider Caribbean oikumene, while pointing beyond them to a new hope for the region”.

Granado – the first Catholic to hold the post of CCC general secretary since it was founded in 1973 - noted the collaborative relationship between the CCC and the Seminary.

He hoped the relationship “will be enhanced even further in the years ahead, as both institutions seek to respond to the increasing need for leadership development and rigorous scholarship throughout the Caribbean”. Granado was present at the 65th anniversary Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on January 15.

Copies of the letter have been sent to president of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) of Catholic bishops, Archbishop Lawrence Burke of Kingston, Jamaica; Archbishop Robert Rivas of Castries, St Lucia, who chairs the Seminary Board; Archbishop Edward Gilbert; Mike James, AEC general secretary; Panamanian Methodist minister Rev Dr Lesley Anderson, CCC president and principal of the United Theological College of the West Indies; and CCC president Dr Oluwakemi Banks of Anguilla.