Roman Catholic Church in the Caribbean

The Roman Catholic Church in the Caribbean is understood within the Roman Catholic Church to be a group of the dioceses of some Caribbean island states and the South American colonies . Together these form the Bishops' Conference of the Antilles ( English Antilles Episcopal Conference ). In a broader geographical sense, the Roman Catholic Church in the Caribbean also includes the Bishops' Conferences of the Dominican Republic as well as of Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

history

Ecclesiastical provinces and dioceses of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean

The Catholic Church in the Caribbean is still a young church in its independent history: with Christopher Columbus , Christianity, more precisely the Catholic Church, came to the Caribbean . Always dependent on Europe, it was the mission field of the Dominicans , Franciscans and Jesuits . Since the colonialists primarily had their profit in mind, it was difficult for the missionaries to assert themselves against them. If they stood in the way or spoke unpleasant words, they were immediately silenced, also by force.

The Caribbean received its first own district with the Apostolic Prefecture of French Guiana Cayenne , which was built in 1651. This was followed in 1752 by a second with the Apostolic Prefecture of Curaçao . It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the church's territorial structures began to develop. With the breve "Ex munere pastoralis" of January 10, 1837, Pope Gregory XVI established the Vicariate Apostolic of Jamaica . Together with the Vicariate Apostolic of British Guiana, established in the same year, and the Vicariate Apostolic of Trinidad , established in 1818 , which also included the Windward Islands , there were henceforth three vicariates for the British West Indies . A total of eight new jurisdictions were established between 1818 and 1850 and five between 1929 and 1967 .

Although the Church of the Caribbean is still dependent on missionaries to this day , an inner stabilization began to emerge in the years after 1950, which finds its expression in vocations to priestly and religious life from the ranks of the local people. This led to the fact that the Apostolic Prefectures and Apostolic Vicariates were gradually elevated to independent and viable dioceses in the years after the Second Vatican Council . Since 1971 four further dioceses have been founded; in addition, two missions sui iuris were set up in 1984 and 2000 .

Organization and special features

Since some of the islands of the Caribbean are quite small, some bishoprics extend over several states. This is quite unusual for the Catholic Church, since it tries to align its church borders with those of the states. The 21 dioceses are organized in 5 ecclesiastical provinces , which together maintain 484 parishes for 2,183,000 believers. 291 diocesan priests , 348 religious priests and 1,099 religious sisters live and work in them . While the diocesan priests usually come from the Caribbean itself, numerous religious priests and sisters are from abroad.

The priests and nuns of the financially weak Church in the Caribbean do not normally wear any religious or spiritual clothing.

The churches are mostly in a classical style and the services are colorful and sang-happy.

Territorial division

The Caribbean ecclesiastical provinces are:

1. Castries
2. Fort-de-France
3. Kingston in Jamaica
4. Nassau (Bahamas)
5. Port of Spain

List of dioceses by ecclesiastical province and state

Archbishoprics (seats of the church provinces) are marked in bold .

Name of the diocese	Seat of the diocese (city)	State (s) of the diocese	Web link
Archdiocese of Castries	Castries	St. Lucia	[1]
Diocese of Roseau	Roseau	Dominica	[2]
Saint George's diocese in Grenada	St. George's	Grenada	[3]
Bishopric of Saint John's-Basseterre	Saint John's	Antigua and Barbuda , St. Kitts and Nevis Montserrat , Anguilla , British Virgin Islands (to UK)	[4]
Archdiocese of Saint-Pierre et Fort-de-France	Fort-de-France	Martinique (to France)	[5]
Diocese of Basse-Terre	Basse-Terre	Guadeloupe , Saint-Martin (northern part), Saint-Barthélemy (all to France)	[6]
Cayenne diocese	Cayenne	French Guiana (to France)	[7]
Kingston Archdiocese of Jamaica	Kingston	Jamaica	[8th]
Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan	Belize City	Belize	[9]
Mission sui juris Cayman Islands	George Town	Cayman Islands (to UK)	[10]
Diocese of Mandeville	Mandeville	Jamaica	[11]
Diocese of Montego Bay	Montego Bay	Jamaica	[12]
Archdiocese of Nassau	Nassau	Bahamas	[13]
Hamilton Bishopric in Bermuda	Hamilton	Bermuda (to UK)	[14]
Mission sui juris Turks and Caicos Islands	Cockburn Town	Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	[15]
Archdiocese of Port of Spain	Port of Spain	Trinidad and Tobago	[16]
Bridgetown diocese	Bridgetown	Barbados	[17]
Diocese of Georgetown	Georgetown	Guyana	[18]
Diocese of Kingstown	Kingstown	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	[19]
Diocese of Paramaribo	Paramaribo	Suriname	[20]
Bishopric Willemstad	Willemstad	Aruba , Curaçao , Sint Maarten (southern part) Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius (to the Netherlands)	[21]
( Archdiocese of Washington )	Washington	United States	[22]
Diocese of Saint Thomas (observer status)	Charlotte Amalie	U.S. Virgin Islands (to U.S.)	[23]

literature

• Territories under the Antilles Episcopal Conference . In: Anna Kasafi Perkins: Justice and peace in a renewed Caribbean. Contemporary Catholic reflections . Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-137-00691-2 , pp. 245-246.

Web links

• Website of the Episcopal Conference of the Antilles

Individual evidence

1. ^ Colman Barry: Upon these rocks. Catholics in the Bahamas . St. John's Abbey Press, Collegeville 1973. ISBN 0-8146-0812-4 . P. 59.