By Laura Ann Phillips in St Lucia

The Antilles Episcopal Conference Youth Assembly (AECYA) 2015 will be hosted by the diocese of St John’s-Basseterre (Antigua & Barbuda, and St Kitts-Nevis). Archbishop Robert Rivas of the Archdiocese of Castries, St Lucia made this announcement to over 1,000 persons who packed the Beauséjour Stadium, Gros Islet, in St Lucia’s north-west, for last Sunday’s closing ceremony of the AECYA.

Rev Cleophus Joseph kneels before Archbishop Robert Rivas during the Rite of Ordination at the Beauséjour Stadium. Photo: Gregory Radijiman

Fr Cleophus Joseph

T&T delegates at the AECYA Way of the Cross on July 27.

The closing Mass – which featured the priestly ordination of Rev Cleophus Joseph – ended a nine-day period of ministry, cultural exchange, spirituality and faith formation for local and visiting teenagers and young adults in parishes throughout St Lucia.
Youth/young adult delegates, from Jamaica in the north to French Guiana in the south, spent July 21-29 at The Gaiety, a conference centre in Gros Islet, hearing lectures, entering into debates and accessing basic training for young adult ministry. Bishops, priests, religious and lay consecrated persons from the various AEC territories spent the week interacting with the young people.
Also present throughout the final Castries-based week was Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, who frequently encouraged the young people to be strong and unapologetic in their Catholic identity.
“Tell everyone you meet that you are proud to be Catholic and that your values are non-negotiable! You are the dream and the joy of the Church and this region! Be always united in faith.” said the Archbishop, to cheers and chants of “Sunflower!”
In his first address to the delegates, Archbishop Girasoli told the young people that this was the English translation of his surname.
His fiery and encouraging words to the youth during the week so resonated with them that they were visibly attentive each time he addressed them, loud cheers often punctuating his remarks.
At the closing ceremony, the Nuncio challenged the political directorate and decision-makers in St Lucia and the Caribbean to truly place young people at the top of their agendas, urging them to “find solutions to reduce unemployment to help the young people here today.”
In his homily at the ordination Mass, Archbishop Rivas urged Reverend Joseph to “teach people the word of God with love, and do this with a shepherd’s heart.”
“Always be kind to people in imitation of Christ. Keep your feet on the ground, Cleo,” the Archbishop said. “Fall in love with Jesus every day in the Eucharist.”
In his thanksgiving remarks at the end of Mass, the newly-ordained Fr Joseph cited the various people who walked with him on his journey, including his family; Archbishop Rivas; Fr Michel Francis, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Castries; and Bishop Jason Gordon of the dioceses of Bridgetown, Barbados and Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines, who had been Fr Joseph’s spiritual director during his final year of formation in Trinidad.

Fr Joseph urged the young people present to consider what God’s call may be for them. He recalled that at the funeral of Fr Charles Gaillard the officiating priest asked, “Who will take Fr Charles’ chalice?” His young and silent response of “I will,” to God was, Fr Joseph said, the beginning of his “yes”.
Today, I have my chalice said Fr Joseph, “And, I ask the young men here present, who will come forward to join me in the priesthood? Who will join me in giving this chalice to God? To the young women here, who will come forward to the religious life?”