The Head of the Anglican Church in St. Kitts and Nevis Archdeacon Valentine Hodge is making it clear that the Church does not support gay marriage, or condone a homosexual lifestyle.
“I can only speak…on the behalf of the Anglican Church which is the church in the province of the West Indies”¦um at the moment we cannot marry in church two people of the same sex…We believe in indissoluble monogamous marriage that is something which should last for life.. indissoluble.. and, we also believe that it is something between a man and a woman,” the Archdeacon said, speaking on WINN FM’s Breakfast Show Thursday.
This is not a new thing in the Caribbean. For 40+ years I, along with my wife, have attended Anglican Services at St. James Parish Church, Barbados. We have seen bishops and rectors come and go. Now, we do not attend there anymore.
Last February, St. James’ Rector, the Rev. Beverley Sealy-Knight, had two vacationing American Episcopalian priests as guest preachers and celebrants at services. By happenstance, the retired Bishop of Barbados, the Rt. Rev. Rufus Brome, who, we were told, once served in the Diocese of New Jersey, is now attached to St. James Parish Church, and preaches there regularly.
One if the visiting American priests was retired from the Diocese of Connecticut, the other serves as an interim in the Diocese of New Jersey.
Due to our familiarity with things in the two American dioceses, we were not surprised to hear each of their guests preaching the new gospel espoused by ECUSA.
In subsequent communication with “Rev. Bev,” as she is widely known, she made it very plain to us that the current Bishop of Barbados, who is also the Archbishop of the Church of the West Indies, the Rt. Rev. John Holder, had no problems with American visitors of their ilk so preaching in Barbados, nor did Rev. Bev.
We included and copied both our priest here at home at St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Kentucky, and our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood, Int’l Dio, ACNA, in all our communications with St. James, and its rector, and obtained guidance and support from both of them as we attempted to work with what we found going on.
So, after 40 years of worshipping in Barbados, we are now churchless whilst vacationing there.
PS – It seems very plain that little or no effort is being made in Barbados to inform local Anglicans of what is going on in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.