Caribbean Church Review 2020 Tags
While COVID-19 has been the story of the year, there were other top stories coming out from the wider Catholic Church in the Caribbean.
Here are some notable stories from the past 12 months:
CHURCH’S RESPONSE TO COVID-19
As Caribbean nations continued to wrestle with the rapid spread of the coronavirus, President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, Bishop Gabriel Malzaire of Roseau, Dominica in a March statement said we need to care for each other and resist the temptation to address this problem in isolation.
Bishop Clyde Harvey of St George’s-in-Grenada has spoken out against citizens who seemed intent on celebrating Grenada’s Carnival as usual. He said the decision not to have Carnival this year was “obvious” and not a “sinister plot” but sensible, responsible behaviour amidst the current pandemic.
Amid the novel coronavirus, snowstorms and the holidays, crowds have been light this year at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Mentor for Christmas mass services.Â
Traditionally, the Mentor parish hosts seven services between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which were not changed this year, said St. John Vianney s Father Thomas Johns, who has been with the parish for roughly 27 years. We weren t sure what it would be like. It has been major change, he said. Prior to the coronavirus, the parish would get between 5,000 to 6,000 people, most of of which being from the Christmas Eve service at 4 p.m. Now, those numbers have been light.
(Oleg Moroz/Tengyart/Unsplash)
By Gina Christian • Posted December 22, 2020
A Christmas season amid COVID can make recovery from addiction even more challenging – but not impossible, said local experts.
For those wrestling with substance abuse, memories of “past holidays have always included a drug of choice, alcohol or compulsive eating, and that has become an integral part of the holiday,” said permanent Deacon Dan Giblin, a certified recovery specialist and full-time spiritual advisor at the St. John Vianney Center.
Located in Downingtown, the facility provides behavioral counseling and addictive disease treatment for clergy and religious nationwide.
Even absent a pandemic, the holidays tend to enhance an individual’s mood of the moment, said Deacon Giblin, citing an observation made by his pastor, Father John Newns of St. Ann Parish in Phoenixville.
Future permanent deacons complete first leg of journey towards Diaconate Published by Tags
The journey to the Permanent Diaconate started in 2015 with the initial application of over 40 men desiring to enter formation for the permanent diaconate.
Fr Jason Boatswain succeeded then Fr Clyde Harvey as the Director of Formation for the Permanent Diaconate.
He initiated the programme on March 25, 2017, with a year of discernment which included monthly meetings at the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs. A retreat conducted by permanent deacon Rev Peter Espeut of Jamaica was part of this process of discernment.
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Jude Riordan RISING star Jude Riordan who has delighted audiences since he landed a coveted TV role in ITV s Coronation Street has been crowned as best newcomer in the Digital Spy awards. Jude, from Lea Green, first hit our TV screens in 2017 after starring in The Secret Life of Five Year Olds on Channel 4. Since then the now nine-year-old St John Vianney pupil has gone on to appear in CBBC programmes and several adverts. And in 2018 landed the coveted role as Tyler in Sky One’s Brassic alongside former Corrie star Michelle Keegan and Vince Gilligan. He s now also starring as Sam Blakeman, the long lost son of Nick Tilsley in ITV’s long running soap Coronation Street.