MISSION TRIP FOUR 4-11-16

The Antilles Episcopal Conference Meeting

April 10-13, 2016

(continued)

Last night, riding on the bus full of bishops from the seminary to the Cathedral for the opening Mass.

Suiting up for the opening Mass at the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. 

A group shot of the bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference right before Mass.

I met a lot of these Sisters going through immigration at the airport coming into Trinidad.

We recognized each other at Mass. I asked to take a picture with them. They are, of course, Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Blessed Mother Teresa, soon to be a saint.

After Mass, the bus took us to the Vatican Embassy and headquarters of the Papal Nuncio. We had hors d'ouvres, drinks and a nice dinner. At dinner, I sat between the  Papal Nuncio (below) and Archbishop Pindar of Nassau,  The Bahamas. It was great to hear the Papal Nuncio share some of his close encounters with Pope Francis. The Nuncio gave me a rosary blessed by Pope Francis.  The Papal Nuncio is very much an extrovert who loves to mix with people and talk with them, He is a dynamic and energetic preacher who really "gets into" liturgical celebrations. He actually physically "leans into" them. 

One of the things he has introduced is opening the Apostolic Nunciature to visitors. Some bishops had not been inside for years. He even allows school children to take tours certain days of the week. 

He is a wonderful, warm man, with a strong Italian accent and a boisterous, booming Italian voice. The bishops love him and what he is doing for the church in these island nations. He obviously loves his work here, as well. 

Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, Apostolic Delegate to the Antilles.

The living room of the Vatican Embassy and Apostolic Nunciature. 

I got to have a nice conversation with Cardinal Felix. He is a warm and welcoming person who enjoys being a Cardinal in his retirement years.

Kelvin Edward Cardinal Felix (born 15 February 1933) is the Roman Catholic Archbishop emeritus of Castries. He was born in Roseau, Dominica, on 15 February 1933. He became a cardinal at the papal consistory held on 22 February 2014.

Another group shot of the Cardinal, Archbishops and Bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference in the living room of the Apostolic Nunciature.

In the back row, left and in white, is a French-speaking Dominican Bishop (like our own Archbishop Kelly). To the right of him is the bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica, an American-born Passionist from New York, who knows some of our Newburg Road Passionists at St. Agnes in Louisville. There is an American-born Auxiliary bishop, Bishop Dorick Wright, in Belize who is a good friend of our own Sisters of Charity of Nazareth who minister in Belize. Another bishop is Polish born, Bishop Wieslaw Spiewak C.R. Bishop of Hamilton, Bermuda. There is also a Benedictine bishop, a couple of Spiritan bishops, two or three more Dominicans and a Resurrectionist to name a few.