West Indian bishops to take up the Covenant this week: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 8

Archbishop John Holder of Barbados during the 2008 Lambeth Conference

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church of the Province of the West Indies are set to meet this week in Trinidad.  The provincial leaders are scheduled to confirm the election of Canon Claude Berkley as Bishop-Coadjutor of Trinidad, and are expected to discuss local and pan-Anglican questions, including the Anglican Covenant.

The Nov 16 to 20 meeting at St Agnes’ Church in St James, Trinidad, will be the first joint meeting joint meeting of the standing committee and house of bishops for the new West Indian primate, Archbishop John Holder of Barbados.  Seventeen of the provinces 24 active and retired bishops are expected to attend the meeting.

Dr. Holder has pushed for a conciliatory tone in the province’s relations with the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada, and has taken a softer line with the North American churches than his predecessor, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of Nassau and the Bahamas.

Under Archbishop Gomez’ leadership, the province declared a state of impaired fellowship with the Episcopal Church, forbad American bishops from participating in consecrations in the province, and required missionaries to endorse a theological code that foreswore the innovations of doctrine and discipline practiced by the US and Canadian churches.

Speaking in New York in May, Dr. Holder said “one of the valuable contributions we can make in the Caribbean, in our Province is to be bridge-builder.”

The West Indies did not agree with the Episcopal Church’s support of gay bishops and blessings, and Dr. Holder said he was not “at the stage where I can say that I support that (gay) lifestyle to the extent that I will bless or encourage or whatever persons involved in that as prominent leaders” of the church.

However, he parted company with the leaders of the Anglican Churches of Africa in believing that the two sides should continue talking.  “I think part of the problem in this world and the church especially, is that we are running out of time to do certain things,” he told members of St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.

“We all want things to be done within our lifetime or within our time of being in charge. I don’t think that way. I think if there is a problem, if there is a challenge we have to work on it. And it will take longer than my lifetime,” Dr. Holder said.

The West Indian bishops are expected to endorse the Anglican Covenant at their Trinidad meeting.  In his May presentation, Dr. Holder said he supported the covenant “100 per cent because I think it is the type of bridge we need to hold the factions together that they can begin to speak to each other in a creative and positive way.”