Msgr Hon. Dr. Patrick 'Paba' Anthony
Msgr. Hon. Dr. PATRICK A.B. ANTHONY, SLC
Biography
Patrick A. B. Anthony, director of the Archbishop Kelvin Felix Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, St. Lucia, (AKFAPC, formerly the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre) holds a Masters degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate in Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. His doctoral thesis was on symbols, myths and rituals in the plays of Saint Lucia’s Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. Theologian, cultural activist and communications specialist, Msgr. Anthony is the founding director of the Folk Research Centre, St. Lucia which he established in 1973 with a group of students and teachers to promote research and documentation of St. Lucian culture. His ongoing involvement and commitment to culture has led him to establish such culturally related institutions as the Jubilee Trust Fund for assistance to young artists, cultural activists and researchers in 1997 and the George Odlum Grant for Creative Artists in 2003.
He is also the founder of the St. Lucy’s Home (St. Lucia) for the rehabilitation of street people; a founding member of the Conference on Catholic Theology in the Caribbean Today; an editor of Theology in the Caribbean Today (proceedings of that annual conference) as well as a founding member of the Association of Diocesan Clergy of the Province of . Since 1980 he has been the editor of the Catholic Chronicle (the monthly newspaper of the Catholic Church in St. Lucia) and was from 2003, a member of the Eastern Caribbean Press Council (ECPC).
For several years he was Chairman of the St. Lucia National Trust and Vice President of the St. Lucia Archaeological and Historical Society. He was also Chairman of the St. Lucia Integrity Commission. He is a past president for the Caribbean region of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC-Caribe); a former director on the Central Committee of the World Association for Christian Communication, London (WACC), and Archdiocesan Press Officer (Archdiocese of ).
He has been a visiting lecturer at the Center for Religious Communication, University of Dayton, Ohio; a research partner and faculty member at the Center for Mission Research and Study, Maryknoll, New York; a faculty member at the Caribbean School for Catholic Communication (CSCC) Trinidad & Tobago, and also a faculty member of the Catechists’ Training Institute (CTI).
Msgr. Anthony’s academic interest is in the relationship between theology and culture, especially literature and theology. He has published internationally on such local cultural issues as Kele in 1988 [“The Encounter between Christianity and Culture : The Case of the ‘Kélé’ Ceremony in St. Lucia,” in Bulletin, Secretariatus Pro Non Christianis, xxiii/3 ( 69 ):287-300], popular Catholicism in 1996 [“Popular Catholicism and Social Change in St. Lucia” in Social Compass: International Review of Sociology of Religion. 45 (4): 555-574]. He has also published on the Flower Festivals of Saint Lucia, on Dunstan St. Omer and Derek Walcott.
In February 2000 he was awarded the St. Lucia Cross (SLC) by the Government of St. Lucia and in November 2012, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. On 26 June, 2013 he was declared a National Cultural Hero by the Folk Research Centre, St. Lucia.
June, 2013
