On behalf of the rest of the Pantin Family, I should like to welcome you all here this morning and to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of sympathy, concern and support that we, as a family, have experienced and witnessed over the past week.  Your love, respect and admiration for our late Archbishop has been truly touching and we appreciate all of the gestures that we have seen and received.  May God Bless you all.

So much has been said about His grace over the past few days, that it is hard to attempt to add anything.  How does one describe this disciple of Jesus?  Perhaps, he defies description, or more correctly, perhaps the best description is arrived at by doing what he did, and listening to the stories told by others, and told to us by people like yourselves.

For family members in his generation, he remained known, throughout his life, simply as Tony.  For those in my own generation, he was known most often as Uncle Tony and this simplicity, this manner of not clinging to office or to status, was arguably his most endearing quality, he was a man for all people.  Over the past few days, we have met several people both at Archbishop’s House, as well as here on the promenade and the one sentiment that we heard so very often was “He was MY Bishop.”  In reality, this was in fact a trademark of his life.  He gave himself, in service, to each person that he encountered.

His greeting and fatherly hugs were never superficial.  He remembered faces and names better than anyone else that I have every known and what was truly remarkable about him was that he also remembered the conversations that he had had with each person.  He took the time to listen and would always extend himself to help.  He was OUR Bishop.

His grace was often known for his promotion of Family Life and for his many sermons on, and in defense of, Family Life.   What many did not know was that Uncle Tony was speaking from personal experience.  He was truly committed to the creation of a sense of family in our community and this was reflected in his approach to his own family.  Nothing was more important to him.

It is sometimes hard to imagine that someone who had given his life in service to the Lord could be considered a family man, but that was exactly what he was.  He remained, throughout his life, deeply concerned about his immediate family (brothers, sisters, and while she was still alive, his dear mother), and was always extremely interested in the lives of his nieces and nephews and their own children.

Mrs Pantin celebrates with her children after she received
a Papal Award in 1991.  His Grace is at left.

He was often among the first to arrive at the annual Pantin family lunch on Boxing Day and always made time to ask about the younger ones, their progress in school, and where applicable, their boyfriends or girlfriends.  One knew that his schedule was packed with things to do, but he always made time to be with his family. It was one of his top priorities.

As the family grew, the large gatherings became a source of great importance and pleasure to us, and Uncle Tony remained a key figure and focal point.

He enjoyed his visits abroad and always felt blessed if his meetings allowed him to visit with his late brother in Miami or with his two sisters who had migrated to England in the mid-1960s.  Many of you may recall the fondness with which he described these visits in his diarized accounts in the Catholic News.

One concrete example of the way that he reached out to people was related to me on Thursday night after the Official Funeral service.  As I was leaving the Cathedral, a gentleman came forward to offer his condolences.  I thanked him for his wishes and for coming to the service.  He then explained to me, “I had to come.  When my own son died a few years ago, the Archbishop called me at home to express his own condolences.  I was touched when I found out that he had called from abroad.  He was not even in the country, but when he heard the news, he immediately called Trinidad to get my number and then called me to offer his sympathy.”

Anthony Pantin was a true Patriot.   He remained true to West Indian Cricket; West Indian unity, and Regional issues facing the Caribbean communities at large, but his true passion was the citizenry of Trinidad & Tobago.

He cared deeply about this Nation and the future that we are providing for our children and our children’s children.  He was very concerned about the loss of values among the youth of our country and was especially pleased to be able to ‘host’ the weekly Prayer Meetings of the Living water Community as it gave him the opportunity to attend, if only for a little while and to listen to the issues that were presented to him as he mingled among those gathered.

He particularly enjoyed the Life in the Spirit Seminars that were held at these meetings as this was a further chance to stay in touch with the questions that were burning in most people’s hearts.

His sense of humour was legendary and while many knew that his so called ‘jokes’ would lengthen the Masses that he said, they were always topical.  Even his twists of the English Language and local forms of expression pertained to the matters at hand.   Often when he was about to embark on a journey abroad, he would quote the passage ‘in a little while you will not see me, and in a little while you will see me’.  As he prepared to leave for his last surgical operation just after the ‘March for Jesus’, he promised that upon his return he would give us all his ‘gut reaction’,  This joy and zeal for life, often gave him the strength to keep going, even when he was in obvious pain, for as a true disciple, he had to ‘be about his Father’s business’.

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Father, we thank You for the gift of our late Archbishop, for his life and for his example, as we prepare to celebrate the Holy Mass, we recall that Uncle Tony often said how much it meant to him to be able to celebrate Mass and that this was his greatest joy here on earth.  Receive him into Your Kingdom, and grant us the strength to learn from his example, to embrace life and to see Jesus in everyone that we encounter each day.

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