About Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon

ABJ entered Fatima College in 1971, where he was the troop leader of the Fatima Sea Scouts, and captain of the regatta team that won the Morrison Trophy in rowing and swimming in 1973 and 1974.

While a member and examiner in the Royal Life Saving Society during the Fatima years, he achieved the Distinction Award, the highest life-saving certification available. His father died while he was in Lower Six, and upon leaving school in 1978 with passes in Physics, Chemistry and Math, he took over the family’s business.

He managed this business successfully for three years.  Then in 1981, he entered the Living Water Community, a lay ecclesial community in Trinidad, and began his seminary formation at St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, Mt St Benedict, Trinidad. He graduated with a first class honours BA degree in Theology from The University of West Indies.

He consequently pursued graduate studies at the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium (1986–88) completing a Master’s in Theology, Magna Cum Laude and a BA in philosophy. He was ordained a priest at the age of 32 in 1991 in Trinidad and 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.

While parish priest of St Martin de Porres, Gonzales (East Port of Spain), an area perceived as troubled, he founded 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 2005 and 2006, he was awarded the City Day Award (City of Port of Spain); and the Alexander B Chapman Award 2006 from the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee for the promotion of the Olympic ideals of using sports to promote peace. He also won the Motorola Community Policing Award 2006, a Caribbean-wide award of the region’s police commissioners for community initiatives that partner with the police, and bring peace to communities.
He lectured in the Department of Theology at the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, as well as for other courses: Caribbean History, Social Ethics, Media, and Caribbean Technology. He was also a member of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, the Archdiocesan Communications Commission and Vicar of Administration for the Archdiocese of Port of Spin (2006–2011).

At present, he is the principal of the Caribbean School of Catholic Communications (CSCC) held during the August holidays at the Emmaus Retreat Centre, Arima and a committee member of The Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) project to expedite justice through the courts in Barbados.

He is a member of Jubilee 2000, an international ecumenical consortium that seeks justice through debt forgiveness on behalf of the world’s most indebted nations (D20), and continues to be a member of the Living Water Community. Archbishop Gordon is currently the Vice-President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference of Bishops and the Chair of their Communications Commission.

Archbishop Gordon was ordained Bishop of the Diocese 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.

He called two Synods, one in Bridgetown in 2014 and in Kingstown early 2015, to hear what the people of the Church had to say. In Barbados, continuing his work with developing all people of God, he funded The Hub—People helping People, as a unit in the Barbados Diocese to assist persons in achieving sustainable livelihoods.

During Lent of 2017, he delivered the prestigious Carl J Peter Lecture on preaching at the North American College in Rome, and the homily at the official ecumenical service of Hamburg, Germany to coincide with the meeting of the G20.

He also presented a paper for the CARIFESTA XIII Symposium in August 2017 addressing the ‘Challenge and Opportunities of Technology to the Caribbean Culture and Identity’. He was subsequently installed as the Archbishop of Port of Spain on December 27, 2017.