Conger

(Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Hamilton, Bermuda)

A Bermudan government minister has called upon the Church of England to pay reparations in atonement for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Minister for Culture and Social Rehabilitation Mr. Dale Butler MP released a statement on March 1 “inviting the Church to do more to show the religious community and the people of Bermuda that it is committed to help heal the wounds of racial divide in Bermuda.”

Butler’s Progressive Labour Party (PLP) won a third term in the Dec 18 general elections against the conservative United Bermuda Party (UBP). The racially charged campaign was marked by accusations of corruption and calls for group solidarity.

The UBP-which had governed the British dependency since self-rule was granted in 1968—was ousted from power in 1998 by the PLP which promised a “new Bermuda.” The PLP promised to empower blacks who comprise about 60 percent of Bermuda’s 62,000 people saying they continued to face discrimination and enacted laws mandating racial preferences in the workplace.

Following the Church of England’s 2006 apology for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Premier Ewart Brown called upon the Diocese of Bermuda to issue its own apology. Whilst he applauded the diocese’s subsequent statement of remorse, Butler-a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church—called upon the Church of England to back up its words with cash and endow a scholarship programme for black Bermudians.

“The Minister believes, that while investment in the future of Black youth in Bermuda could never adequately compensate for the injustices done to past victims of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Bermuda, a strengthened and long-lasting gesture on the part of the Anglican Church would contribute to healing a race that remains scarred by injustices that have not found acceptable resolution in Bermuda,” a statement released by Butler’s office said.

“The legacy of a scholarship could help heal this country that continues to be divided by race,” the PLP minister said.

The Bishop of Bermuda, the Rt. Rev. Ewan Rattray declined to comment, saying he was studying the request.

The Bishop of Bermuda has charged the island’s government with playing politics in the licensing of overseas clergy.

Writing in his November diocesan newsletter, Bishop Ewan Rattray stated the Bermudian government’s “interference in the affairs of the Church” over the granting of residency permits had been “entirely inappropriate. Despite complying with the law at all times, we still seem unable to make significant progress,” he said.

The diocese’s difficulties stretched back over two decades, he noted, and involved the United Bermuda Party and Progressive Labour Party governments. While relations with the government were now cordial, “the way forward is still not absolutely clear.”

The government’s “decisions sometimes have had the appearance of being arbitrarily taken,” and were politically motivated, he charged. In 2003 the government refused to issue a work permit for a Canadian priest engaged as rector of St. Paul’s Church in Paget, ordering the diocese to employ a native Bermudan instead.

Bermuda law states that if there is a Bermudian ready and able to do the job, an employer may not hire a non-Bermudian. Work permits are strictly controlled, and are issued for periods ranging between one and three years, and renewal, while possible, is not certain.

Overseas clergy who ran afoul of some of their parishioners had been forced to leave the island after their residency permits were not renewed. Bishop Rattray said the actions of some Anglicans to rid themselves of troublesome priests by feeding “the Government with misinformation” was “reprehensible” and “sinister.”

These “persons who utilize the Government for their own selfish purposes are walking on extremely dangerous ground both for themselves and for the wellbeing of the Church,” he charged.

Bishop Rattray told his diocese that upon retirement in March 2008 he would leave the diocese and move to York, England where he has an apartment. “A number of people seem to view our plans as somewhat strange, especially as our children and grandchildren live here,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is that we neither own nor can afford to buy property in Bermuda; it is just too expensive.”