Archbishop Jason Gordon celebrates a decade shepherding  

Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon celebrates his tenth anniversary of his ordination to the episcopate today, Tuesday, September 21.

Born March 17, 1959, to parents Stanley and Rose Mary Gordon, Fr Gordon was ordained a diocesan priest in March 1991 at the age of 32.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he began studies for the priesthood at the Regional Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, Mt St Benedict. He continued his studies at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (1986-88) where he attained both his BA and Master’s in Theology. He later completed his PhD at Heythrop, the Jesuit College in the University of London (1996-2000). It was here that he learned that he was dyslexic.

After his priestly ordination, Fr Gordon lectured at the regional seminary, and he managed a number of projects in the Living Water Community (LWC) including Fountain of Hope and the Marian House for young men.

In an interview with Catholic News in 2009, Fr Gordon said his spiritual journey began while he was a student at Fatima College. After graduating from college, he inherited his father’s failing business and was able to turn it around.

During this time, while searching for his purpose in life, he became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as a youth member of the LWC. When he was 22, he decided to sell the now-profitable business and became a full-time member of the Community.

In 2003, Fr Gordon was appointed parish priest of Rosary/Gonzales and created projects to improve the Gonzales community which at the time had been deeply affected by gang-related violence. He helped start a homework clinic, an internet café and a project known as CITY (Community Intervention Transforming Youth) programme which had the participation of all the stakeholders in the community—residents and groups in the community, the police, gangs, and their leaders.

In 2007 then Archbishop Edward Gilbert CSsR appointed him to the newly created position of Vicar for Administration. Two years later, Pope Benedict XVI made him a Monsignor.

Msgr Jason Gordon was ordained Bishop of Bridgetown on September 21, 2011, and  installed as Bishop of Kingstown, September 23, 2011. At his ordination, he made it clear that his first task was to listen to and discern where God wants him to lead the Church. Responsibility for the Diocese of Kingstown was reassigned in 2016 with the ordination of Bishop Gerard County CSSp.

In 2017, Archbishop Gordon was appointed the 11^th Archbishop of Port of Spain. News of the appointment by Pope Francis was made official on Thursday October 19, 2017, on the Holy See Press Office website. Archbishop Gordon replaced Archbishop Joseph Harris, who submitted his letter of resignation to the Pope in March when he turned 75.

He was installed as the Archbishop on December 27, 2017, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, becoming the third Trinidadian to lead the country’s local Catholic Church following Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Harris CSSp and the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin CSSp.

At present, Archbishop Gordon is the Vice President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, the regional body of Catholic bishops for the English, Dutch and French-speaking Caribbean territories, and the Chair of the Commission on the New Evangelisation.