{{Short description|Assembly of Catholic bishops in the Caribbean}} {{Infobox Organization | name = Antilles Episcopal Conference | image = | image_border = | image_size = | caption = | map = Karte Kirchenprovinzen und Diözesen der Karibik - es.png | map_size = | map_caption = Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Provinces and Dioceses in the Caribbean, including members and non-members of the AEC. (in Spanish) | abbreviation = AEC | formation = 1957<ref name="EncycloCAR">{{cite book| editor-last1 = Case| editor-first1 = Frederick I.| editor-last2 = Taylor| editor-first2 = Patrick| date = 2013| title = The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions - Volume 1: A-L; Volume 2: M-Z| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XOyYCgAAQBAJ| publisher = University of Illinois Press| page = 876| isbn = 9780252094330}}</ref> | type = Episcopal conference | status = | purpose = To support the ministry of bishops | headquarters = Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | metropolitan = | province = | location = | region_served = Former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean | membership = Active and retired Catholic bishops of the Caribbean | leader_title = President | leader_name = Charles Jason Gordon | main_organ = | parent_organization = | affiliations = | num_staff = | num_volunteers = | budget = | website = [http://aecbishops.org/ aecbishops.org] | remarks = }} The '''Antilles Episcopal Conference''' ('''AEC''') is a Roman Catholic episcopal conference. Its members are bishops and archbishops from current and former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean (excluding Haiti), Central America, and northern South America. The conference's membership includes five archdioceses, fourteen dioceses, and two missions ''sui iuris''. These particular Churches minister to Catholics in thirteen independent nations, six British Overseas Territories, three departments of France, three countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and 3 municipalities of the Netherlands proper.<ref name="AEC About">{{cite web|url=http://www.catholiccaribbean.org/articles.asp?id=46|title=About Us — Who We Are|publisher=Antilles Episcopal Conference|accessdate=2007-07-27|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070802133642/http://www.catholiccaribbean.org/articles.asp?id=46|archivedate=2007-08-02}}</ref>
The bishop from an American insular area, the United States Virgin Islands, has been granted observer status. The episcopal conference is led by a president, who must be a diocesan ordinary and is elected by the membership of the conference for a three-year term. The conference also elects a vice president, who has the same qualifications as the president, and a treasurer, who can be a diocesan ordinary, a coadjutor bishop, or an auxiliary bishop. Additionally, a permanent board — consisting of the president, vice president, treasurer, the metropolitan archbishops and two other elected members — handles administrative issues between plenary meetings of the conference. As of 2024, the president of the conference is Charles Jason Gordon, Archbishop of Port of Spain, while the vice president is John Derek Persaud, Bishop of Mandeville.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/102.htm |title=Antilles Episcopal Conference (A.E.C.), Conference of Bishops |accessdate=2024-04-02}}</ref>
The Holy See appoints an apostolic delegate to the Antilles Episcopal Conference, who also serves as the Apostolic nuncio (papal ambassador) to the independent nations of the conference. The nunciature is located in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The current apostolic delegate is Archbishop Santiago De Wit Guzmán,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/11/new-apostolic-nuncio-of-the-antilles-episcopal-conference/|title=New Apostolic Nuncio of the Antilles Episcopal Conference | NOW Grenada|date=November 9, 2017}}</ref> who replaced Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu after he was appointed as secretary of the Section of First Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
== Member jurisdictions == {| class="wikitable" ! width=30% | (Arch)Diocese ! width=30% | (Arch)Bishop(s) ! width=40% | Covered secular Territor(y/ies) |- ! colspan=3 |Province of Castries{{anchor|Province of Castries}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aecbishops.org/our-locations/|title=Territories – Antilles Episcopal Conference}}</ref> |- |Archdiocese of Castries |Robert Rivas, O.P. |Saint Lucia |- |Diocese of Kingstown |Gerard County |Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |- |Diocese of Roseau |Gabriel Malzaire |Dominica |- |Diocese of Saint George's in Grenada |Clyde Martin Harvey<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/06/new-bishop-grenada-announced-vatican/|title=New Bishop for Grenada Announced by the Vatican | NOW Grenada|first=Linda|last=Straker|date=June 23, 2017}}</ref> |Grenada |- |Diocese of Saint John's–Basseterre |Robert Llanos; Kenneth Richards (emeritus); Donald Reece (emeritus) |Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands |- ! colspan=3 |Province of Kingston{{anchor|Province of Kingston}} |- |Archdiocese of Kingston in Jamaica |Kenneth Richards, Charles Dufour (emeritus); Donald Reece (emeritus) |Jamaica |- |Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan | Sede Vacante |Belize |- |Diocese of Mandeville |John Derek Persaud; Neil Edward Tiedemann, C.P.(emeritus); Gordon Bennett (emeritus) |Jamaica |- |Diocese of Montego Bay |Sede Vacante |Jamaica |- |Mission ''Sui Iuris'' of Cayman Islands |Edward Weisenburger |Cayman Islands |- ! colspan=3 | Province of Nassau{{anchor|Province of Nassau}} |- |Archdiocese of Nassau |Patrick Pinder |Bahamas |- |Diocese of Hamilton in Bermuda |Wiesław Śpiewak C.R.; Robert Kurtz, C.R. (emeritus) |Bermuda |- |Mission ''Sui Iuris'' of Turks and Caicos |Joseph W. Tobin |Turks and Caicos |- ! colspan=3 | Province of Port of Spain{{anchor|Province of Port of Spain}} |- |Archdiocese of Port of Spain |Charles Jason Gordon; Joseph Harris C.S.Sp. (emeritus) |Trinidad and Tobago |- |Diocese of Bridgetown |Neil Sebastian Scantlebury |Barbados |- |Diocese of Georgetown |Francis Alleyne, O.S.B. |Guyana |- |Diocese of Paramaribo |Karel Choennie; Wilhelmus de Bekker (emeritus) |Suriname |- |Diocese of Willemstad |Sede Vacante; Luigi Secco (emeritus) |Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba) |- ! colspan="3" | Province of Fort-de-France{{anchor|Province of Fort-de-France}} |- |Archdiocese of Saint-Pierre and Fort-de-France |David Macaire; Gilbert Méranville (emeritus) |Martinique |- |Diocese of Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre |Jean-Yves Riocreux |Guadeloupe, along with Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin |- |Diocese of Cayenne |Alain Ransay;Emmanuel Lafont (emeritus) |French Guiana |- ! colspan="3" | Observer |- |Diocese of St. Thomas |Jerome Feudjio |United States Virgin Islands |}
== See also == * List of Catholic dioceses (structured view) * List of Roman Catholic dioceses in the Caribbean * Caribbean Conference of Churches
== References == <references />
== Sources and external links == * [http://www.aecbishops.org/ Antilles Episcopal Conference] * [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/102.htm GCatholic] {{Authority control}} Antilles Category:Catholic Church in South America Category:Catholic Church in the Caribbean