Caribbean Insight - WWME Convention

Trinidad & Tobago

Worldwide Marriage Encounter in the Caribbean began when Wilfred & Kay Holder shared the dream of getting WWME started in Trinidad and Tobago with Servant of God Archbishop Anthony Pantin, CSSp on June 28, 1978. In November 1978, Trinidad hosted the region’s first WWME experience at Pax Guest House, Mt. St. Benedict with the assistance of a Canadian Team. From those humble beginnings, the movement expanded to: Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, and even Haiti (in French).

Most recently, Deacon Malcom & Lynn Joab from Trinidad and Tobago represented the North American Secretariat of WWME on the Geppetto Project at the Vatican and met Pope Francis in October 2022 …
Viva il Papa!

Guyana

Being Guyanese, it didn’t take long for Wilfred & Kay Holder to start work on getting WWME started in Guyana too. With the help of Fr. Micheal Coutts, SJ who had earlier been invited by Fr. Chuck Gallagher, SJ to experience a weekend in New York in 1976, in November 1980, Guyana hosted their first WWME experience at Park Hotel, Georgetown with the assistance of team couples from Trinidad. Guyana has gone on to host over 70 weekend experiences over the years and has given to the movement Bishop John Persaud (of Mandeville, Jamaica) who served as the Canada/Caribbean Ecclesial Team Priest, the first and, to date, only team priest from outside Canada … Wow!

See photos of the current coordinators below.

Jamaica

In September 1982 the seed was planted for Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Jamaica. George and Barbara Bain, Anand and Joan James, Martin and Kamala Lalsingh and Alvin and Nuncia Meghoo started the process. Weekend experiences ran from July 1983 through to September 1988, when Hurricane Gilbert devastated the entire island of Jamaica. After the storm, there were no more WWME experiences in Jamaica. In 2016, Deacon David and Donna-Marie Chambers made their Marriage Encounter weekend, and since then, they have since been working with Region 3-CAN leaders and the Caribbean WWME community to restart weekend experiences.

See photos of the current coordinators below.

Barbados

In 1980, Fr. Pat McDonough, a Canadian mission priest, along with Paula and Gerald Houriahan, brought the first Worldwide Marriage Encounter to Barbados. The movement grew and weekend experiences were offered once or twice per year up until 2001. In 2017, Fr. Ashton Pierre, CSSp, Deacon Malcom & Lynn Joab from Trinidad and Jamie and Connie McNeill from Prince Edward Island, Canada with the assistance of Bishop Jason Gordon (then Bishop of Bridgetown) and Mervin & Susan Marshall reignited weekend experiences in Barbados for the first time in over 16 years! … Hmm, that’s a lot!

See photos of the current coordinators below.

Dominica

Wendell and Irma Lawrence introduced WWME to Dominica in 1983. They identified two couples, Robelto and Ramona Blanc, and Deacon Alvin and Francisca Knight and a priest, Fr Werner Vanmoerkerke who went on to become the first presenting team in Dominica. WWME Dominica grew rapidly as many couples, priests and religious experienced the experience and participated in annual conventions. External support came from Trinidad, Barbados, and Canada. Having reached out to the community in Dominica earlier, in 2017 Deacon Malcom & Lynn Joab spearheaded the first-ever Deeper Weekend experience in Dominica which included couples from throughout Region 3-CAN. This has since forged greater interconnectivity, cooperation, and co-responsibility within the Region … Best Deeper ever!

See photos of the current coordinators below.

St Vincent

In 2013, Deacon Malcom & Lynn Joab, Fr. Ashton Pierre, CSSp and team presented the first-ever WWME experience in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The then Bishop of Kingstown, Most Rev. Jason Gordon was instrumental in facilitating the experience which was held at his house! At the closing mass the then Vicar General Msgr. Michael Stewart challenged the team to host another WWME weekend within one year. This challenge was duly met in 2014 and again in 2017 … for good measure. Recently, Fr. Alando Williams who lived the first experience in 2013, served as the Region 3-CAN Ecclesial Team Priest with Tony and Sharon Mansell.

See photos of the current coordinators below.

Suriname

WWME was introduced to Suriname by the Netherlands in May 1988 with the enthusiasm and commitment to bring what was sown to fruition. The first seven weekends were presented by entirely Dutch teams. Eventually, but the 34th weekend experience there was an entirely Surinamese presentation team. Up to 2019, WWME Suriname was considered an outreach area of WWME Netherlands. In 2019 at the WWME World Council Meeting in Toronto, Canada, Suriname was officially transferred to the North American Secretariat, Region 3-CAN … Yoohoo!! Currently, the Region 3-CAN Ecclesial Team Couple – Remi and Bianca Mohamatsaid, are from the Suriname Encounter.

See photos of the current coordinators below.

Caribbean Coordinators Gallery