Robert Rivas O.P. (born 1946) is the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Archdiocese of Castries in St. Lucia. Early life Rivas was born in the village of La Pastora, Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago, on June 7, 1946. He is the son of the late Sabina and Placido Rivas, and has one sister and five brothers. Having completed his secondary studies in the Dominican College of Holy Cross, Arima, he entered the novitiate of the Irish Province of the Dominican Order in Cork, Ireland. After ordination in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain, by Archbishop Anthony Pantin on June 27, 1971, he went to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome, where he obtained the Licence in Theology. After Rome, he returned to Ireland where he successfully completed a course in radio and television production and received a diploma in communications. Career On his return to Trinidad and Tobago he spent his first two years of ministry at St Theresa’s, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, under the direction of the future master of the Order of Preachers, Rev. Damian Byrne. He continued in parish ministry for another three years in South and North East Trinidad. The following years were devoted to involvement in social communications, campus ministry at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, and the formation of young Dominicans for the priesthood and religious life. During this time he completed a programme in spiritual direction. From 1985 to 1989, in addition to his work in formation, he served as a special Delegate of the Master of the Dominican Order in Rome, to promote the unity of the order among the vicariates in the Caribbean. He was the first Dominican in the Caribbean to be appointed to this position. On October 28, 1989, his appointment as the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Kingstown in St Vincent and the Grenadines was announced in Rome. He was consecrated Bishop of Kingstown on January 22, 1990. He has the distinction of being the first Caribbean-born Dominican to become a bishop in the West Indies in 500 years of evangelisation. On May 31, 2005, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Bridgetown, Barbados. As he approached his retirement age, Archbishop Kelvin Felix of the Archdiocese of Castries requested of the Vatican that a co-adjutor archbishop be appointed to ensure a smooth transition in