Bishop Gordon ready for Barbados challenge

Former Bishop of the diocese of Kingstown Bishop Jason Gordon is ready to get to work as Bishop of the diocese of Bridgetown.

Speaking with SEARCHLIGHT last Saturday at the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Edinboro after the ordination of new Bishop of the Diocese of Kingstown Gerard County, Gordon stated that he knows he has to reach the poor in new and deeper ways.{{more}}

“One of the things I know we have to do is reach to the poor in new and deeper ways and really touch the pockets of poverty which we have in Barbados, which is a serious problem that we have.”

Additionally, he said that communications within the church and with society will also be on his agenda when he gets to Barbados.

On his time here, he told SEARCHLIGHT that he will miss the easygoing nature of Vincentians and their ability to make something happen really quickly and easily.

“I will miss the people; I will miss the vibrancy of the society; I will miss the interaction; and I will miss the teamwork.”

Additionally, he said that he will miss the beauty of St Vincent and the Grenadines, especially the coastline since his is an avid kayaker.

“The clearness of the water, the flying fish coming across your bow, everything; it’s just really spectacular. And then down in the Grena­dines to the little communities of faith, but strong and vibrant people, who are resilient and who have weathered the storm and really been really hard in the faith and holding firm.”

Bishop Gordon highlighted the Synod event as one of his favourite moments, stating that being able to see persons come together to dream of the church going forward was an amazing event for the church.

“In some of those planning meetings to see lay people, priests, deacons everybody involved, engaged and really thinking of the church going forward was really spectacular.

“The number of times when lay people come together in teams…and just took it up and ran with it and just made it happen and worked with great energy and absence of theme; those are just amazing,” he continued.

Bishop Gordon also described his time here as exciting and a learning curve because of his appointment as a bishop and also the nature of the church in St Vincent.

“…It was interesting because learning to be a bishop is so much different than being a priest, that you really have to think about other things you didn’t think about before and work towards the unity of the church, work towards the unity of the presbytery, work towards the growing of the church in depth and in breadth”

Bishop Gordon encouraged Vincentians to never be afraid of giving their life to Jesus and doing what’s right. (CM)