Cathedral of Immaculate Conception re-opened its doors after earthquake

Five weeks after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake caused damage to the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Port of Spain, the church re-opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.

“It is good to be home. It is good to be able to re-open the doors of the Cathedral to celebrate and feel the presence of God,” said Roman Catholic Archbishop Fr Charles Jason Gordon at a thanksgiving mass held at the church on Wednesday afternoon.

He told a small congregation gathered at the church, TT got a sense of how fragile life can be, how things can change quickly and life should not be taken for granted.

“We got a good shaking up for about a minute or two and we are thankful we can celebrate once again today and open the doors of the cathedral once again.”

“This is the mother church and when it is closed it is painful. A lot of people kept asking when the church was going to be reopened again. It is a focal point in the capital city, when we come in here to pray it brings the city closer together in God’s presence and Grace.”

After the earthquake the church’s roof above the sacristy, furniture, and other decorative elements in the nave were damage.

Speaking to the media after the thanksgiving mass, Fr Gordon said a cost could not be put on the repairs because parts for the church were still coming in for repairs and it is not “terribly expensive.”

“We went through a whole restoration a few years ago and most of the structure is very much in place. The pieces that were challenged were decorative blocks and they came loose because of the shaking.

“To re-open the doors, now I can rejoice and enter to see the place of God again. A closed church means we cannot do our ministry and cannot serve the people in the city, or be a source of grace for all the people who drop in to pray or come to mass. It is just share joy.”

When asked about his thought on the crime situation in TT, Archbishop Gordon said every time one thinks it cannot get worse, it gets worse.

”The problem did not begin with crimes being committed in the street but started in the classrooms, homes and even the churches where something went out of place with the children.

“The nation should look at the places where it lost its children and where the opportunities were not presented to them to lead better lives. We seem to be incapable of addressing it and it is a tough one.”