A Statement of the Antilles Episcopal Conference on HIV-AIDS

Bishops speak on HIV/AIDS

“The joys and the hopes, the grief and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are joys and hopes, Thee griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo ill their hearts. “(Gaudium et Spes 1)

As we conclude our 49h Annual Plenary Meeting, we the Bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, express our pastoral care and concern for all the peoples of our Region. As a Region we have many reasons for hope. We are also faced with many challenges. Among these challenges is the scourge of HIV AIDS. On a global scale, we in the Caribbean have the 2nd highest incidence per capita of HIV AIDS after Sub Sahara Africa. As we know, IIIV AIDS has no cure as yet. The most effective means of protection from this disease is sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity to one spouse after marriage. This is factually attested to in countries such as Uganda where abstinence is an integral part of the governmental strategy to confront this disease.

It is not only unfortunate, but also unacceptable that victims of HIV AIDS should suffer stigma and discrimination. We must challenge the negative attitudes that are widely held among our people. We declare without reservation that HIV AIDS is not a curse from God. It is not divine judgment on individuals for their sins.

We are happy to note the tremendous response of the Roman Catholic Church in the Region to the HIV AIDS pandemic. We as Bishops are committed to seeking new ways to enter into partnerships with other Christian churches, other religions, Governments, Health Care providers, and the private sector in providing even more service to “HIV AIDS victims and their families. In particular, we need to educate ourselves, and the people of our Region to the nature of this disease with a view to reducing the discrimination and the stigma associated with it.

It is not possible to contract HIV AIDS by merely talking to, touching or even hugging an HIV AIDS victim. Those with HIV AIDS deserve our understanding, our respect, our assistance and our care. We reaffirm the dignity of every man, woman and child afflicted with HIV AIDS and reach out to them, conscious that God “comforts us in all our afflictions and thus enables us to comfort those who are in trouble” (2 Corinthians 1: 33 ff).

All who dare to be followers of Christ must remember that much of His public life was taken up with healing the sick. This included even those whose diseases placed them beyond the margins of society. We need to mirror and reflect the unconditional love of Christ for every person irrespective of his or her lifestyle and its consequences. Christ taught us that whatever we do to the least among us that we do unto Him (cf Matthew 25:40). We encourage family members and our faith communities to welcome and care for those afflicted with HIV AIDS.

We turn to the Youth in a special way. Recalling that His Holiness Pope John Paul If had a very special love for the Young of the World, we encourage all the Youth Abstinence Clubs being formed in our Region and we say to them and indeed to all: “Be not afraid!” The future is in the hands of the Youth who, with the help of Christ, are indeed capable, of embracing the principles of the Gospel and of proclaiming the Hope which is in us (cf. I Peter 3:15).

We encourage the pursuit of every effort in the pastoral and medical field to bring healing compassion to our sisters and brothers in need. We proclaim that “the charity of Christ impels us all” (2 Corinthians 5:14) to bring an end to the stigma attached to all those who suffer from this disease.

Given at Paramaribo, Suriname
April 10 2005

Peter's Pence Collection
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Each year the annual Peter’s Pence Collection, in support of the works of the Holy Father, is held in parishes across the country. The proceeds from this collection, fund emergency relief assistance to those throughout the world who suffer from war, oppression, and natural disasters. The theme for this year’s collection is Goodness Works Quietly. Through works of charity, Catholics provide a quiet but powerful witness of love and deeds to empower the weak, the defenseless, and the voiceless, and to sustain those who suffer.
As we participate in this special appeal, we join with the more than one billion Catholics worldwide in a loving expression of solidarity. We share in the concern of the successor of Peter for the many different needs of the universal Church and for the relief of those most in need around the globe.
This year, the collection in our diocese is scheduled for Sunday, 26 June, 2005.
I ask you to consider contributing to the collection this year and I am grateful for your generosity. Together let us ask the Lord to bless the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, and us, as well as those in need throughout the world.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Kelvin E. Felix
Archbishop of Castries

Peter’s Pence Collection

‘

C.A.R.E. Awards’ Evening

On Friday, March 4th 2005 C.A.R.E. the Centre for Adolescent Renewal and Education, held an Awards Ceremony at the National Cultural Centre. This certainly was a ceremony with a difference. C.A.R.E. has been working with some of the most marginalized youth of St. Lucia for the past eleven years. Her two year programme has touched many youths and continues to do so.

Brother Dominic Brunnock, FPM with group of boys

Much is not known of the impact C.A.R.E. has had on so many. Her first year Adolescent Development Programme, popularly known as the ADP, has given the young people a sense of self-worth and self-esteem that has given them, as many of the Trainees would say, a “second chance”. The second year of the training exposes the young person to a skill of their choice, and their choice includes eight skills. C.A.R.E. boasts an 80% employment rate after the training and this is no mean achievement.
C.A.R.E. could never have done this alone. The business community of St. Lucia has played a pivotal role in allowing the Trainees to find gainful employment. The “Job Training Programme”, which is six weeks of being out there and doing the real thing, has been made possible by the business community of St. Lucia. Seventy-eight businesses were recognized for their invaluable contribution towards the trainees achieving their goals. Framed certificates were presented to each business as a token of appreciation for their assistance. [Allow me to interject that the Certificates of Appreciation were printed by their Office Skills Department, the frames were made by their Carpentry/Joinery Skill, and the snacks afterwards were prepared by their Catering Department].
C.A.R.E. availed of the opportunity to recognize the invaluable contribution of their loyal Staff. Each member was called forward and presented a lapel pin, with the C.A.R.E. logo imprinted thereon, whether they were with C.A.R.E. since its inception or working their first year. This was in recognition of the tremendous contribution they have made to the success of the organization.
The evening culminated with the presentation of a plaque to its founder, Br. Dominic Brunnock. Br. Dominic recently retired as Executive Director of C.A.R.E. but it would not be possible for him to ever retire as its founder. The standing ovation stood as a salute to the tremendous contribution Br. Dominic has made to the youth of St. Lucia. This echoed the sentiments of the St. Lucia Government who recently presented him with the Gold Medal of Honour.
A special mention must be made of the St. Mary’s Steel Band, which provided some very lively renditions. The tribute of a Past Trainee, Mrs. Rufina Fredrick Stanio, touched everyone and the school choir, singing an Irish song in honour of Br. Dominic, was truly memorable. C.A.R.E. is truly blessed.

The Eucharist and Ecclesial Communion
From the Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II,
Chapter V
“On The Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church”

The Eucharist thus appears as the culmination of all the sacraments in perfecting our communion with God the Father by identification with his only begotten Son through the working of the Holy Spirit. With discerning faith a distinguished writer of the Byzantine tradition voiced this truth: in the Eucharist “unlike any other sacrament, the mystery [of communion] is so perfect that it brings us to the heights of every good thing: here is the ultimate goal of every human desire, because here we attain God and God joins himself to us in the most perfect union”. Precisely for this reason it is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of “spiritual communion”, which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote: “When you do not receive communion and you do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it the love of God will be greatly impressed on you”.

The celebration of the Eucharist, however, cannot be the starting point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists, a communion which it seeks to consolidate and bring to perfection. The sacrament is an expression of this bond of communion both in its invisible dimension, which, in Christ and through the working of the Holy Spirit, unites us to the Father and among ourselves, and in its visible dimension, which entails communion in the teaching of the Apostles, in the sacraments and in the Church’s hierarchical order. The profound relationship between the invisible and the visible elements of ecclesial communion is constitutive of the Church as the sacrament of salvation. Only in this context can there be a legitimate celebration of the Eucharist and true participation in it. Consequently it is an intrinsic requirement of the Eucharist that it should be celebrated in communion, and specifically maintaining thevarious bonds of that communion intact.
Invisible communion, though by its nature always growing, presupposes the life of grace, by which we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and the practice of the virtues of faith, hope and love. Only in this way do w ‘ e have true communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nor is faith sufficient; we must persevere in sanctifying grace and love, remaining within the Church “bodily” as well as “in our heart”; what is required, in the words of Saint Paul, is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

Eucharist and Solidarity with the Poor
From Bishop Gabriel Malzaire’s Doctoral Thesis in Sacred Theology, Rome 2000
Chapter V
‘The insights of Paul VI on Eucharistic Orthopaxy as a
Legacy and Challenge for Contemporary Catholic Theology

The vision of Paul VI concerning the renewal of the social order through the inspiration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ as celebrated in the Eucharist is evident in the following text:

This is precisely the rich lesson of life that comes to us from the solemn paschal celebrations. The love, with which Jesus loved us, not alone opens for us a new and living way to the Father, but also demands that it be the lived norm of our relationship with one another. The construction of a new society is not achieved by the person who knows only how to sow violence and destruction, but by the person who works through the generous dedication of himself, also in silence and suffering, in favour of his neighbour. The absolute certainty that comes to us from the Gospel is that love alone constructs.

Besides the fact that the theme of newness, with regard to human salvation and progress, being one with strong biblical roots , the milieu of the pontificate of Paul VI was indeed one of deep awareness of the need for change in order to meet the needs of the modem era. It was the period of the Second Vatican Council, when his predecessor John XXIII, prophetically called for a new opening of the windows of the Church ‘to allow a fresh blowing of the Holy Spirit', bringing greater vitality and clarity of purpose to the liturgical and social life of the Church. It was for Paul VI, a great watershed period for the Church, a time for it to make a striking contribution to the realisation of a new social order.

However, it is clear that the Eucharist is his theological starting point for that new order. As has been pointed out above, he sees the Eucharist as the source and summit of all evangelisation>> (PO 5), and that the very identity of the Church, in her evangelising mission, is effected by the Eucharist, which is the goal of its activities”. Moreover, because the Eucharist contains Christ himself, it therefore contains the Church's entire spiritual resources. The text under analysis indicates that the worship of the Eucharist generates a sense of newness which has to find a concrete testimony in the social order, the order of human relation ships. It has to be characterised by a new way of thinking and acting in the ecclesial and social communion: <<For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation>> (2Cor 5,17). For Paul VI, this also means educating and sharpening the social conscience of the Christian, thus effecting a greater aptitude to the exercise of social love and human solidarity. Hence his words that <<it is necessary to instil into the social conscience of the community a ‘spirit' of love, solidarity, and service, which will temper and correct renascent selfishness with economic and civil development itself, and educate the men of our time to concord, collaboration and peace>>. Thus, the Pope's vision of the new social order calls for a rebirth and alertness of the human community to what really matters for fruitful human living; a shift from a perspective of mere survival of creation to a more wholesome existence of all. Thus, this new consciousness necessarily effects a shift from personal and private concerns to a more universal interest in human well being, which concurs with the divine design: I have come that they may have life and have it to the full>> (Jn 10, 10).

Paul VI goes on to speak further of the concrete nature of that invitation to life by the Gospel, the fullness of which is comprehended in the Eucharistic mystery. On the occasion of the Bolivian Eucharistic Congress he related the renewal of the social order to the cult of the Eucharist in these words:

This sacrament is a call to give particular preference to those in great need: the poor, the sick, those who are victims of injustice, the underprivileged, those who do not have the comfort of a friendly hand to help or someone to understand them (cf. 1Jn 3,17; James 2,15 16; 2Cor 8,13 14; PP 45; GS 42, 69, 83).

For Paul VI, Jesus is the author of <<the new era, our era, the era of redemption>>. Therefore, the mission of the Church, his Mystical Body, has to have its foundation in that which most clearly represents the focus of his earthly mission and the hope that it gives for the future of humankind. Hence, the Eucharist, which represents the fullness of the Church's mission, is itself the sacrament of divine invitation addressed to every believer to reproduce in today's socio historical context the salvific plan consummated in Christ Jesus. This, according

Help Save Soufriere Presbytery

Our Lady of the AssumptionChurch- Presbytery

In an earlier issue of the Catholic Chronicle I promised to keep you informed on the progress of the Restoration works of the Soufriere Presbytery. The first phase of this project is the total replacement of the Roof Covering. The estimated cost of this part for labour and the metal sheet covering is $35,500.50 (Thirty Five Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars and Fifty Cents). This is the first immediate target that must be met.
I repeat my earlier appeal to everyone out there to help save this world heritage class building. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the generosity of the following persons:
Miss Rosa Alexander
$1,000.00
Mrs. Loretta Mitchell $ 600.00
Mr. Nick Troubetzkoy $1,000.00
Mrs. Karolin Troubetzkoy $1,000.00
Mr. Nickolai Troubetzkoy $1,000.00
Mr. Yasha Troubetzkoy $1,000.00
Anse Chastanet Resort $1,000.00
Mrs. Jill Bacon $1,000.00
Mrs. Pam Rafferty $1,000.00
Mr. Charles Devaux $1,000.00
Mr. Bernard Johnson $ 200.00
Miss Emma Hippolyte $5,000.00
We will continue to acknowledge receipt of Donations in the Catholic Chronicle and at the end of the project a plaque with the names of all the donors will be installed at the presbytery and unveiled at the ceremony of completion.
Please help me make this a Monument of National Pride, and remember, “It is more blessed to give than to Receive”.

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