Priests and parish administrators last Tuesday took a closer look at the distribution of the Catholic population in Trinidad and Tobago and considered how they might better serve the Church in the short and medium terms.

Archbishop Edward Gilbert convened the meeting of the presbyterate and religious and lay administrators at the Curepe Pastoral Centre to discuss the implications of the shortage of priests for the local Church and to voice his concerns and those of the vicars.
It was the first of three levels of consultation, to be held in the coming weeks, “to tell everyone the truth,” said the Archbishop on Tuesday.

Next will be an October 7 consultation with the religious of the Archdiocese, the leadership of the ecclesial communities and members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

This will be followed by meetings with the Vicariate and Pastoral Councils.
The decision to hold the consultations was partly prompted by a geographic information system (GIS) display that Archbishop Gilbert viewed a few months ago and which he hoped would be an eye-opener for those in charge of the Archdiocese.

The computer-generated GIS display takes various data relating to population and geography and reassembles that information on a map so it can be more easily viewed and analysed.

Fr Roland Quesnel and Msgr Peschier. In background are Frs Petere de la Bastide and Gerard Farfan

As part of Tuesday’s session, Vicar of the Northern Vicariate, Fr Jason Gordon, guided the assembly through much of the information gleaned via the GIS map.

Using Church records and 2000 census figures, the GIS was able to display such information as the distribution of Catholics in Trinidad and in Tobago, according to vicariates; the location of parish churches in relation to Catholic populations; the kinds of ministry offered in parishes across the nation; and the number of Catholics per priest in each vicariate.

It was found that in the Northern Vicariate, 22 priests in parishes (average age 60) serve a population of 81,799 Catholics (3,718 Catholics per priest). In the Central Vicariate, four members of the clergy (average age 43) serve a population of 30,847 Catholics (7,712 Catholics per priest).

In his opening remarks, the Archbishop expressed his concern for a clergy that WAS now severely stretched. He said several of the priests were “under medical care and were limited in what they can do”. With the shortage of priests, “how do we handle the distances” that some need to travel, he asked.

From the perspective of those in the pews, Archbishop Gilbert asked: “How do we ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated in each community at least twice a month?” He also wondered: “How do we communicate to our people that they are loved?”

Faced with A lack of local vocations to the priesthood, the Archdiocese has had, increasingly, to seek priests from religious communities outside of Trinidad and Tobago. But, said Archbishop Gilbert, “the three-year rule is killing us.”

He was referring to the state legislation that permits citizens of other countries to work in the Archdiocese for only three years at a time.

“Provincials of religious communities are reluctant to send anyone to work in our Archdiocese for only three years,” he said.

The Archbishop reported that he had to announce “with great sadness” that the Jesuits - who had opened a house of formation in 2003, in Malick, Barataria – have decided to return to Guyana in January 2007. Archbishop Gilbert expressed his gratitude to the Congregation and noted that their departure would present an even greater challenge to the Archdiocese in the short term.

The Jesuits are working at present in the parishes of Malick, and St John’s, Diego Martin. (Jesuit priest Fr Eddie Bermingham will continue his teaching assignment at the Regional Seminary.)

At the conclusion of the round of consultations, the Archbishop will convene another meeting of priests and parish administrators in October.