The bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference gathered in St Lucia last week for their annual plenary meeting. The week began with the celebration last Sunday of the Jubilee Mass at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Castries.

As reported last week both the Archdiocese of Castries and the Diocese of St George's-in-Grenada celebrate their 50 th anniversary in 2006.

On Monday, May 1, feast day of St Joseph the Worker, and the May Day public holiday, the AEC bishops, together with the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, participated in the Archdiocese's Jubilee for Workers. The Eucharistic celebration was held at St Joseph parish church in Gros Islet.

Among the matters discussed at this year's plenary meeting was the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Msgr Patrick Anthony presented the AEC with the resolution unanimously approved at the 22 nd Annual Meeting of the Diocesan Clergy of the Province of Castries, held in the Diocese of Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines, in January.

The resolution called for the Bishops of the AEC “to support and endorse the efforts of the Caribbean Governments towards the CSME and the full integration of the people of the Caribbean .”

And further “that on behalf of the diocesan clergy of the Province of Castries the Bishops of the AEC be invited to take up with the Caricom Secretariat the matter of the free movement of the clergy, religious and lay missionaries of the region to continue the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom and the unification of the people of God.”

This resolution was also signed by Fr Ken Richards, president of the diocesan clergy association of the Archdiocese of Kingston, as well as by Fr John Persaud of the diocesan clergy of Georgetown , Guyana . Sir Dwight Venner, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank addressed the bishops on the CSME, on Tuesday, May 2.

Also addressing the bishops during the course of the week was Sr Marie Thérèse Clement, OP, president of the Conference of the Religious of the Antilles (CRA). She reported on the 37 th Annual General Assembly of the CRA held in April in Curaçao.