Gordon praised, marks 5th year as Archbishop

Fr Martin Sirju, administrator of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, said during the pandemic, Archbishop Jason Gordon was not only the shepherd of the Roman Catholic flock, but the shepherd of the nation.

He made the statement while delivering the homily of the mass celebrating Gordon’s fifth anniversary on Tuesday at the Cathedral on Independence Square, Port of Spain.

According to Sirju, people have said Gordon stabilised the entire country, was an excellent leader, and provided spiritual nourishment in a time of crisis.

He said there were four signs of a “dynamic catholic” which were prayer, expanding their faith with reading and study, generosity and evangelisation. The last of which, he said, was the weakest of the signs.

He, therefore, encouraged people to join the various programmes in their parishes that would encourage faith formation, evangelisation, and guide them in their way forward in the 21st century.

He added that part of evangelising was delivering homilies, and God sent Catholics a good preacher in Gordon.

Quoting Pope Francis, Sirju said, “Homilies are a suffering experience. The priests suffer to prepare them and the people suffer to listen to them.”

He said that was not the case with Gordon as he is now an “excellent homilist.” But, in his opinion, Gordon was not the best preacher in the beginning. Realising that, Gordon worked at it, studying techniques of preaching, looking at videos, reading commentaries and more.

After the homily, Gordon conducted the consecration and lead the communion.