Bishop Clyde, Msgr Christian celebrate golden jubilee

By Klysha Best

Photos courtesy Sabrina Marks

Exactly 50 years to the day after they were ordained to the priesthood by the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin CSSp, Bishop Emeritus Clyde Harvey and retired Msgr Christian Pereira gathered with family, friends, and faithful at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday, June 27, 2026, to celebrate their Golden Jubilee.

The Mass of Thanksgiving was a moment of gratitude, reflection, and joy, a celebration not only of 50 years of priestly ministry, but of a friendship that has endured through decades of service, challenge, and change.

“To make known to God’s Caribbean people the loving kindness of our God.”

Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon, who delivered the homily, anchored the celebration in that powerful phrase, a mission statement that had shaped the ministry of both jubilarians from the very beginning.

“When the jubilarians were still seminarians, that was a long time ago,” Archbishop Gordon said. “They prayed through and came to this statement. Fifty-something years ago, when the statement landed before them, I don’t think they could have understood the importance or the impact it would have on their lives, on the lives of our Caribbean people.”

He reflected on the readings chosen by the jubilarians for their Golden Jubilee, drawing from the Book of Wisdom, St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and the Gospel of Mark.

“Death was not God’s doing,” the Archbishop said, quoting the First Reading. “He takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.” He reminded the congregation that the trials of life do not come from God, and that the people of the Caribbean, formed by a brutal history of slavery and plantation economies, must never forget that they are made in the image and likeness of God.

Archbishop Gordon praised the priestly ministry of both jubilarians.

Msgr Pereira—parish animated for mission

Starting with Msgr Pereira, he said “priests were always happy when they heard that they were going to the parish where Christian was living…because if you happen to succeed Christian and come right after him, you are guaranteed a few things.”

He continued, “You are guaranteed a very nice presbytery with living accommodations that were good. But you’re also guaranteed a people who had been animated for mission and structures put in place to keep that people working together in harmony to move that parish forward. You are also guaranteed a rhythm in that parish that is unbelievable. A covenant day that would be celebrated annually. And other feasts that have been done.”

The Archbishop added, “Christian spent his time with his people, forming his people, and bringing his people to this sense before we had the word synodality, bringing these people to the sense of synodality of working together in accountability in a journey that was important. And here also the image of priesthood that the reading has. That though you are rich in everything, what the priest is called to, is to spend himself generously for the sake of his people.”

Bishop Harvey—sacramental encounters

Archbishop Gordon then turned his attention to Bishop Emeritus Harvey. He noted that Bishop Harvey had been a pastor who “makes interruptions into discourses of theology,” turning ordinary moments into sacramental encounters.

He recalled Bishop Harvey’s courageous ministry to people living with HIV/AIDS at a time when the disease carried a heavy stigma, and his pastoral theology that once declared: “The condom is not against life, it’s against death.”

“That’s what hesed looks like,” the Archbishop said, referencing the Hebrew word for covenantal love. “A friendship that endures not because I agree with you, not because it didn’t break my heart. It endures because we have committed ourselves to each other.”

He spoke of the enduring friendship between Bishop Harvey and his classmate Carlos Roberts who left the priesthood and became an Anglican priest, as a parable of God’s faithful love. And he noted that Clyde Harvey and Christian Pereira, who were ordained together, have remained friends for half a century.

A message from Pope Leo XIV to Bishop Harvey was also read by Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Santiago De Wit Guzmán.

“As you celebrate the golden jubilee of your priestly ordination, we recall your apostolic activity through which you have served the Church and the people of God with a sense of humanity and with pastoral care informed by skill,” the Pope’s message read. “We gladly impart our apostolic blessing to you, the clergy, the faithful, and your relatives as a pledge of the Lord’s salvation.”

A fifty-year journey

In his vote of thanks, Msgr Pereira reflected on the journey of 50 years, expressing gratitude to his family, his parish priests, the nuns of the Rosary Monastery, and the many influences, from writers and calypsonians to footballers and cricketers who shaped his life.

“I am here before you all as a brother with the change within me that has happened as the fluent sculptor of time has made me into who I am today,” he said, quoting the poet Derek Walcott.

He thanked his brother priests, and the countless parishioners who loved and challenged him over the years. He also spoke of the importance of seeing the image of God in every person.

“It takes a lifetime of learning how to see the imago dei in others,” he said. “Our skin may differ, our race may differ, our colour may differ, but fundamentally, whatever it is, we resemble each other. Today is a time for us to celebrate our resemblance and to make this Jubilee Day and every day of our life a search for God’s image in each other.”

Bishop Harvey, in his own words of thanks, echoed the theme of gratitude, especially to family and friends. “I would not be the priest I am if it was not for family,” he said. “They used to say you leave family, and you go to serve the Lord. I have discovered you learn how to serve the Lord as you enter deeply into family.”

He paid tribute to his eldest sister, Lorna, and to the women and men who had walked with him through the decades. He also reflected on the nature of communion, not as a thing received, but as an ongoing relationship with God.

“I ask you to pray for Christian and myself that as these years continue to unfold, we may draw into deeper and deeper communion with our God,” he said. “And that as we draw into that communion, we may share the experience of that communion with all of you.”