THE CHURCH IN THE WEST INDIES

A recent visit to the West Indies on a Geest banana boat - Elke - with three other passengers provided me with an opportunity to see something of the life and work of the Anglican and R.C. Churches on six of the islands - Martinique, Antigua, St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada and Barbados. Unfortunately time did not permit me to visit any of the numerous ‘sect’ churches which are profusely dotted all over the various islands.

Although I have seen a variety of ‘sect’ churches in countries as diverse as Australia, South Africa and South Korea, I have never before come across some of the denominations which I saw on the islands. For example, there were signboards advertizing not only such familiar names an the Salvation Army, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Adventists, but also

I saw some of these churches in action one Sunday when the ship was discharging containers at St John’s, the capital of Antigua. We passengers were then able to take a tour across the island in a mini-bus to Falmouth and English Harbour where we visited Nelson’s Dockyard (the C18 British naval base) and Shirley Heights (the site of the C18 British army fort).

On the way, after visiting St. John’s large Anglican Cathedral, comfortably full with 300-400 people, we passed numerous other smaller ‘sect’ churches by the roadside, and all were similarly comfortably full. Although we could not get out of the bus to visit any of them, we could see inside each one and also hear the congregations singing loudly as we passed. For, owing to the heat, all windows and doors were wide open. What surprised us most was the fact that, on our return journey some three hours later, the congregations were still singing or listening to a preacher. Apparentlyg Sunday services lasting three or more hours are the norm in most, if not all, the churches - including the Anglican. As one Anglican later said to m,g “We like to get our money’s worth”.

By the time the Elke had reached Antigua it was evident that she would not be able to complete her itinerary owing to a defective engine. Consequently, we four passengers were informed that we should have to disembark on one of the islands and fly home from Barbados. So, whilst on Antigua, I took the opportunity to track down Andrew Hatch, an Anglican priest in Barbados whom I had known as a student at Mirfield and whom I had last seen 45 years ago.

With the help of an Antiguan Anglican priest at St Andrew’s parish church in St John’s, I discovered that he was still alive, retired, and living a few miles north of Bridgetown. Eventually we made contact by phone, and Andrew kindly invited me to stay with him and his wife when I arrived on the island. I mention this because, whilst the tracking-down process was in process, I was sitting by the phone in St. Andrew’s church vestry with the church’s register open in front of me. I noted with interest that the attendance at the 10.15 a.m. Sung Mass that morning (December 6) had been 307 but that the communicants numbered only 88. Interestingly, on the same page in the register was a “November Summary” of attendance, as follows:

SUNDAYS Attendance 798 Communicants 274 Therefore, average (for Sundays):

Attendance 199.5 Communicants 68.5

WEEKDAYS Attendance 110 Communicants 22

Therefore, average (for weekdays):

Later on my travels I discovered that these figures are fairly representative of congregations in the town parishes on the islands, and that the clergy generally are very much concerned that only about one third of those attending Mass receive Holy Communion.

It was not until I disembarked from the Elke for a hotel (paid for by Geest) on the Spice Island of Grenada that I was able to attend an Anglican church service. The first was the Induction (in which I was asked to participate) of Fr Leopold Friday (a huge, hirsute man at least 6’4" tall) as Rector of St George’s, the parish church of St George’s, Grenada’s capital town. The service, conducted by the Bishop of the Windward Isles, Bishop Sehon Goodrich, was in the context of a Sung Mass with incense and full catholic ceremonial, and lasted about 3 hours with innumerable hymns, perhaps 10 or more: I lost count! The West Indians, of course, love singing!

Most, if not all, the indigenous Anglican clergy on the island were present, but there were no representatives from other denominations, which surprised me. I was also surprised that the congregation of c.100 consisted almost entirely of elderly people, In fact, this was true of every church (both R.C. and Anglican) which I visited, and I gathered that the majority of the ‘sect’ churches are also facing the same problem. One Anglican priest told me that congregations in most churches have declined considerably in recent years. Generally speaking, for example, churches which had congregations of c.1,000 on a Sunday now had c.300, and Sunday Schools which once had c.300 pupils now had only c.30.

My next visit to St George’s church was to attend the eve of Sunday Low Mass with hymns at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening (December 12) where I joined a congregation of c.20 mostly elderly ladies. I had hoped to attend the main Sunday Mass at 7.30 a.m. but the distance of the beach hotel from St George’s town made it impossible.

During my five day stay on Grenada I did a day tour of the island which included visits to Gouyave, Sauters and Grenville where I met Anglican and R.C. priests. The former are all indigenous whereas the latter are all Irish - mission priests of St Patrick’s Missionary Society, whose mother house is in Co. Wicklow. Why the R.C. church has no indigenous clergy in Grenada I was unable to discover, but the Irish priests I met all seemed very happy to be serving on the island. On,. the parish priest at Gouyave. told me he had been there for 22 years, and was planning a joint Millennium celebration with the West Indian Anglican Vicar.

From Grenada I flew to Barbados where I was met by Andrew Hatch and spent a most interesting five days with him and his wife at their super retirement villa on the coast. Although retired, Andrew is still very much involved in the life of the island. As he had been Vicar of St Mary’s, Bridgetown, and more recently Vicar of St James’s Holetown, Andrew is very well known in church circles, and also by the public at large because he has a twice-weekly radio phone-in programme - called "Brass Tacks" - on the Voice of Barbados Radio, in which he answers questions from the public on a variety of subjects - including religion - for 1½ hours. I was privileged to sit in on one of them, and could only marvel at the way he answered questions on such subjects as evolution, volcanoes, V.A.T., apostolic succession, local government and environmental problems.

It was evident from this programme that the Anglican Church in Barbados is very much involved in the life of the community. Each parish, for example, runs a church school, like the R.C.s, and at St James’s, Holetown (where Andrew was succeeded by a West Indian priest) the congregation run projects to help the poor and needy called "Care & Share", and "Heed the Need", whilst the elderly and infirm are cared for at a "Golden Age" Centre. Such church projects are common on all the islands.

Apparently there is no shortage of Anglican clergy in the West Indies. Barbados, for example, has no fewer than c.60 indigenous priests, and it is only the size of the Isle of Wight. What did surprise me was that there is virtually no problem or difficulty over women priests! I think I am right in saying that the only island which has them is Barbados, and here they number only two with one woman deacon. Andrew told me that only one priest objected to their ordination, and he got himself transferred to another island. Furthermore, not one priest I met had heard of Forward in Faith, which also surprised me, since the Anglican Church in the West Indies is - generally speaking - a monochrome, oldfashioned, Anglo-Catholic Province. Although it has a conservatively revised Prayer Book, the services are conducted in the same way as they were here in Anglo-Catholic churches 50 or more years ago, albeit with westward facing altars, and Hymns Ancient & Modern is sacrosanct! Not one Mission Praise book did I see! But I did see the Stations of the Cross in every Anglican - as well as R.C. - church I visited, and various statues in most of them. During Advent (when I was there) Novenas (9 day cycles of prayer) were being kept, and the faithful in one church were urged to attend the 5.30 a.m. Mass on weekdays! Interestingly, too, I did not come across, or hear of any carol services during the season of Advent, which is evidently still kept as a strictly penitential season in preparation for the festival of Christmas.

I presume that the Province’s current hierarchy were mostly, if not entirely, trained at Codrington College, Barbados, the theological college of the Anglican Church in the Province of the West Indies. I particularly wanted to visit this well-known college, which dates back to the C18, because it was run by the Mirfield Fathers for 18 years during the 1950s and 60s until, sadly, the shortage of manpower forced them to give it up. But the college continues to train men for the priesthood, and Andrew drove me over to see it.

Approached by a long spectacular avenue of palm trees, it is situated in a most beautiful and unspoilt area of the island and surrounded by woods containing some of the island’s few remaining native indigenous trees.

The students were still in residence and we met some of them preparing the chapel for a visit that evening by the newly-elected Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez. Although I did not meet the Archbishop myself, on my last evening in Barbados I was taken to his “Welcome” service at the Cathedral in Bridgetown. And what an experience it was! The Cathedral was packed, the ladies sitting on one side of the main aisle with the men on the other: all very old-fashioned. Groups of ladies all wore the same sort of clothes which, I presumed, were their respective churches’ Mothers’ Union uniforms. All wore hats: some had white hats and white dresses; others white hats, white blouses and blue skirts; and some were all in blue with blue hats and blue dresses. All very colourful. The men, of course, were all smartly dressed in suits. The clergy procession was truly a sight to behold. Led by a crucifer, thurifer, and acolytes, the Dean and the numerous Canons of the Cathedral followed in splendid golden coloured copes. They, in turn, were followed by at least 60 clergy, most of whom wore the now-fashionable cassock-alb, whilst some even wore birettas. Finally came the Archbishop and the Bishop of Barbados together with their chaplains. The 2½ hour service itself took place in the context of the Mass with various welcoming speeches, numerous hymns and an excellent sermon by the Archbishop on “Truth” - based on John 8.31-32. Before his sermon, however, the Archbishop spoke about his plans for the future of the Province viz:

As the Anglican Church in the Province of the West Indies is now entering a new era under its new Archbishop, I am sure that he, together with the Diocesan bishops, clergy and congregations, would particularly welcome our prayerful support at this time. And should any parish in our Deanery wish to form a Link with a parish in the Windward Isles, I shall be only too pleased to put you in touch with one of the clergy.