Congratulations to Archbishop Kelvin E Felix, Lawrence Burke, SJ and Bishop Donald Reece - 25th Anniversary of Episcopal Ordination

In October 2006, three Caribbean bishops celebrated their Episcopal ordination. July 17, 1981, will remain a red letter date in the life of the Church in the Caribbean for on that date Fr Kelvin Felix was appointed Archbishop of Castries, Fr Lawrence Burke SJ, bishop of Nassau, The Bahamas and Fr Donald Reece, bishop of St John’s-Basseterre.

For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church in the region three bishops were appointed within days of each other. A convoy of bishops travelled first to St Lucia where Archbishop Kelvin Felix was ordained and installed as Second Archbishop of Castries on October 5, 1981.

The bishops then moved on to Antigua, where on October 8 they ordained and installed Bishop Donald Reece as Second Bishop of St John’s-Basseterre. It was then on to Nassau, The Bahamas, for the ordination and installation of Bishop Lawrence Burke as Bishop of Nassau on October 11.

The appointment of this group of bishops marked the third wave in the indigenisation of the leadership of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean. The first wave was the appointment of Samuel Carter SJ, Anthony Pantin CSSp and Edgerton Clarke as bishops in the late 60s.

Samuel Carter was appointed auxiliary bishop of Kingston on February 1, 1966 and Archbishop of Kingston on September 25, 1970. Anthony Pantin was nominated Archbishop of Port of Spain on November 19, 1967 and ordained on March 19, 1968. Edgerton Clarke was appointed First Bishop of Montego Bay on September 30, 1967. He would later become Archbishop of Kingston, Jamaica in January 1995.

The second wave of local men to be appointed bishops included such names as Bishop Patrick Webster OSB of St George’s-in-Grenada (ordained August 31, 1969, appointed Bishop of St George’s, March 18, 1970 and First Archbishop of Castries November 18, 1974) Bishop Anthony Dickson of Bridgetown-Kingstown (ordained January 29, 1971) Bishop Benedict Singh of Georgetown (ordained April 18, 1971), Bishop Sydney Charles of St George’s-in-Grenada (ordained January 26, 1975).

Of the three bishops who celebrated their silver jubilee of their Episcopal ordination this October, only Archbishop Lawrence Burke is no longer in the See where he was ordained.

On June 22, 1999, his former diocese was elevated to a Metropolitan See and Bishop Burke was appointed first archbishop of the new Archdiocese of The Bahamas. He paved the way for the appointment of a Bahamian, Archbishop Patrick Pinder as Archbishop of Nassau and returned to his native Jamaica, to be installed as Archbishop of Kingston on May 2, 2004.

According to Church law (Canon Law) all Catholic bishops must resign upon reaching their 75th birthday. This means that Archbishop Burke, Archbishop Felix and Bishop Reece will all have to tender their resignation in 2007, 2008, and 2009 respectively. These may not necessarily be accepted, but must be tendered.

Congratulations to the jubilarians on 25 years of “good shepherding”.
(Edited from Catholic Chronicle)