Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port of Spain

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Port of Spain (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Portus Hispaniae) is a metropolitan diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in the Caribbean. The archdiocese encompasses the entirety of the former Spanish dependency of Trinidad, including the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The archdiocese is the Metropolitan responsible for the suffragan Dioceses of Bridgetown, Georgetown, Paramaribo and Willemstad, and is a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Port of Spain Archidioecesis Metropolitae Portus Hispaniae
Cathedral of Port of Spain
Location
Country	Trinidad and Tobago
Ecclesiastical province	Port of Spain
Statistics
Area	5,128 sq mi (13,280 km2)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2010) 1,310,000 340,000 (26%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	April 30, 1850 (174 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Port of Spain
Patron saint	Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Charles Jason Gordon
Vicar General	Fr. Martin Sirju
Bishops emeritus	Joseph Everard Harris, CSSp Edward Joseph Gilbert, CSsR
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The diocese of Port of Spain was originally erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1818 and elevated to an archdiocese in April 1830.

Communications

The archdiocese has its own special-purpose company, Catholic Media Services Limited (CAMSEL), responsible for coordinating communications. The diocesan weekly newspaper, Catholic News, has been published in Trinidad since 1892 and since 2006 has been published by CAMSEL.

There is also a local TV station which operates under the aegis of the archdiocese but is independently owned and operated by the Living Water Community, a public association of Christian Faithful founded in Trinidad.

The vicar for communications is Fr. Robert Christo.

Pastoral regions

The archdiocese is divided into six regions known as vicariates and each headed by a regional episcopal vicar.

• Central Vicariate
• Eastern Vicariate
• Northern Vicariate
• Southern Vicariate
• Suburban Vicariate
• Tobago Vicariate

Bishops

Ordinaries

• James Buckley (1819–1828)
• Daniel McDonnell (bishop) (1828–1844)
• Richard Patrick Smith (1844–1852)
• Vincent Spaccapietra (1855–1859)
• Ferdinand English (1860–1862)
• Joachim-Hyacinthe Gonin, O.P. (1863–1889)
• Patrick Vincent Flood, O.P. (1889–1907)
• John Pius Dowling, O.P. (1909–1940)
• Patrick Finbar Ryan, O.P. (1940–1966)
• Gordon Anthony Pantin, C.S.Sp. (1967–2000)
• Edward Joseph Gilbert, C.Ss.R. (2001–2011)
• Joseph Everard Harris, C.S.Sp. (2011-2017)
• Charles Jason Gordon (since 2017)

Coadjutor bishops

• Richard Patrick Smith (1837-1844), as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic
• William Dominic O'Carroll, O.P. (1874-1880), did not succeed to see
• Thomas Raymond Hyland, O.P. (1882-1884), did not succeed to see
• George Vincent King, O.P. 1885-1886), did not succeed to see
• Patrick Vincent Flood, O.P. (1887-1889)
• Patrick Finbar Ryan, O.P. (1937–1940)
• Joseph Everard Harris, C.S.Sp. (2011)

Auxiliary bishops

• William Michael Fitzgerald, O.P. (1958-1968)
• John Mendes (1988-2002)
• Robert Anthony Llanos (2013-2018), appointed Bishop of Saint John's-Basseterre, Virgin Islands (British)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

• Sydney Anicetus Charles, appointed Bishop of Saint George's in Grenada in 1974
• Clyde Martin Harvey, appointed Bishop of Saint George's in Grenada in 2018
• Malcolm Patrick Galt, CSSp., appointed Bishop of Bridgetown in Barbados in 1995
• Francis Dean Alleyne, O.S.B., appointed Bishop of Georgetown in Guyana in 2003

See also

• Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando
• Roman Catholicism in Trinidad and Tobago

External links

• The Archdiocese of Port of Spain official site
• "Archdiocese of Port of Spain". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Archdiocese of Port of Spain" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.