Cathedral Credit Union celebrates 80 years of service

Photo (screen grab) and story by Kaelanne Jordan

mediarelations.camsel@catholictt.org

The Cathedral Credit Union Co-Operative Society Limited celebrated 80 years of service with a Thanksgiving Mass 3 p.m. Friday, October 4 at its Edward Street location, Port of Spain.

In a brief homily, Rosary/Gonzales parish priest Fr Matthew d’Hereaux focused on the day’s First Reading: Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3- 5. He emphasised that because of our fallen human nature, we need a Saviour. “We can’t do it on our own….We need God in our life,” he said.

He reminded the small gathering of staff that they are a “privileged financial organisation” and highlighted their religious name, as well as St Francis of Assisi, the credit union’s patron saint.

Fr d’Hereaux noted that while some things can be done alone, other aspects of life require community.

He beseeched them to not forsake their worshipping community. Why? “Because we are broken beings. And we need God, we need grace, we need places that reminds us of grace, and reminds us about God, and encourages us, and inspires us. Do not take the chain up and stay away from your faith assembly and stay away from religion,” he said.

Established in the early 1940’s in a parish where “thrift was a lost art” and moneylenders omnipresent, charging as much as 100 per cent on small loans, the credit union initially served only Catholics.

In 1971, it opened its doors to all individuals residing and/or working in the ecclesiastical region of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. October is Credit Union Month. International Credit Union Day will be celebrated on October 17.