Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Antilles Episcopal Conference

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit

The Antilles Episcopal Conference is a Roman Catholic episcopal conference. Its members are bishops and archbishops from current and former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean (excluding Haiti), Central America, and northern South America. The conference's membership includes five archdioceses, fourteen dioceses, and two missions sui iuris. These particular Churches minister to Catholics in thirteen independent nations, six British colonies, three departments of France, three countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and 3 municipalities of the Netherlands proper.

The bishop from an American insular area has been granted observer status. The episcopal conference is led by a president, who must be a diocesan ordinary and is elected by the membership of the conference for a three-year term. The conference also elects a vice president, who has the same qualifications as the president, and a treasurer, who can be a diocesan ordinary, a coadjutor bishop, or an auxiliary bishop. Additionally, a permanent board — consisting of the president, vice president, treasurer, the metropolitan archbishops and two other elected members — handles administrative issues between plenary meetings of the conference. The president of the conference is currently Patrick Pinder S.T.D., C.M.G, Archbishop of Nassau.

The Holy See appoints an apostolic delegate to the Antilles Episcopal Conference, who also serves as the Apostolic nuncio (papal ambassador) to the independent nations of the conference, except Belize. The nunciature is located in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The current apostolic delegate is Archbishop Nicolas Girasoli, who replaced Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson after he was appointed as apostolic nuncio to Ukraine.

References

Antilles Episcopal Conference Wikipedia