five Trini priests made Monsignors

FIVE Trinidad priests have become Monsignors in the Roman Catholic Church. On the eve of today’s Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) celebrations came the news that His Holiness John Paul II conferred the title on the five local priests in one of the biggest appointments to hit the local Archdiocese since Anthony Pantin become the first Trini Archbishop in this country. According to Archbishop Edward Gilbert, “Monsignor is an honorary title given to priests for distinguished service and/or to recognise the pastoral leadership positions to which they have been assigned in the particular church.” The honorary title of Monsignor is limited to diocesan priests.

The five new Monsignors are:
* Christian Dominic Pereira, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain and parish priest of Santa Rosa, Arima.
* Michael de Verteuil, Rector of the Regional Seminary of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.
* Dr Esau Edwin Joseph, Regional Episcopal Vicar, Surburban Vicariat, a medical doctor who is parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Curepe.
* Cuthbert Francis Alexander, Episcopal Vicar for Communi-cations, who is also parish priest of St John the Evangelist Parish in Diego Martin.
* Kenneth David Spence, Episcopal Vicar for Priests, who is also parish priest of St Peter’s, Pointe-a-Pierre.

His Holiness John Paul II conferred the title on the five priests on the recent recommendation of Archbishop Edward Gilbert. The letters of appointment from the Vatican Secretariat of State will be given to the new Monsignors at a liturgy at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on June 25. The new Monsignors will join the only other Monsignor of the Catholic Church, Urban Peschier. Contacted yesterday, Fr Alexander said he was honoured at the appointment. “My prayer and hope is that the conferring of the title on the five of us will contribute to the development and enrichment of the Catholic Church.”  Fr Alexander has been a priest for the past 13 years and is now in his seventh year at St John’s. The appointment of the new Monsignors has been seen as sign of renewed strength in the Catholic Church which has been under increased pressure within the last year. Following the death of the Archbishop Pantin in March 2000, and the failure by the Pope to appoint a successor from this country, the Catholic Church has been riding a wave of controversy over the last two years, the last of which involved Father Kennedy Swaratsingh, Parish Priest of St Patrick’s RC Church, Newtown, in April. The Pope eventually bypassed the likely successor, Fr Periera and installed American Edward Gilbert who was then assigned to the Roseau Presbytery in Dominica. Fr Pereira was later elevated to Vicar General of the Archdiocese and subsequently assigned to the Santa Rosa Parish, away from the Cathedral and Sacred Heart Church where he had preached. Despite his disappointment of not being appointed Archbishop, Fr Pereira has stuck to his task as right-hand man to the new Archbishop. Corpus Christi is a major Catholic festival. Even when TT was taken over by the Anglican British from the Catholic Spaniards, one stipulation was that this feast remain om the calendar.