Ryan Ba­choo

Lead Ed­i­tor–News­gath­er­ing

ryan.ba­choo@cnc3.co.tt

Arch­bish­op Emer­i­tus Ed­ward Gilbert, who served as head of the Arch­dio­cese of Port-of-Spain for a decade, has died.

Catholic Me­dia Ser­vices Ltd (CAM­SEL) con­firmed his pass­ing yes­ter­day, de­scrib­ing it as a mo­ment of deep sor­row for the lo­cal Catholic com­mu­ni­ty.

Arch­bish­op Gilbert, 88, a mem­ber of the Con­gre­ga­tion of the Most Holy Re­deemer (Re­demp­torists), was first ap­point­ed Bish­op of Roseau in Do­mini­ca in 1994. He was lat­er in­stalled as Arch­bish­op of Port-of-Spain on May 5, 2001, a post he held un­til his re­tire­ment in 2011.

Dur­ing his tenure, Arch­bish­op Gilbert worked to strength­en dioce­san struc­tures, pro­mote vo­ca­tions, and en­cour­age col­lab­o­ra­tion among cler­gy, re­li­gious, and lay mem­bers of the Church.

In a state­ment, CAM­SEL said, “We of­fer our prayers for his soul and ex­tend con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly, the Re­demp­torist com­mu­ni­ty, and all whom he served. May he rest in peace.”

Arch­bish­op Gilbert’s lead­er­ship in Trinidad and To­ba­go was marked by a pe­ri­od of ad­min­is­tra­tive and pas­toral re­form with­in the Arch­dio­cese. He was suc­ceed­ed by Arch­bish­op Joseph Har­ris in 2011.

Fu­ner­al arrange­ments will be an­nounced by the Arch­dio­cese of Port-of-Spain in the com­ing days.