Berkely becomes fourth Trini Bishop

While a young boy in Tobago, there was no thought whatsoever that Berkely would be the Anglican Bishop of TT, he admitted yesterday.

“There was not one thought that the Bishop would be myself. It is the power of God at work, how else could it have happened?” he asked.

He said the church needed to take its context seriously.

“The church must face its future confidently, not by virtue of our own genius and skill, but rooted and grounded, but in Jesus the Lord of the Church,” he said during his ordination ceremony at the Trinity Cathedral, Port-of-Spain.

“Persons who profess the church, persons who can’t worship unless the candles are straight and the flowers are not neat, and who cannot worship unless they are in their regular seat, and who cannot feel the power of the spirit if the priest’s robe is not straight ... I have a long list of non essentials or nothing to do with the love of God and Christ Jesus.

“The issue of religion is serious business—it is about stability, focus, making connection with the power of God . A power that would take us beyond regular and ordinary sensibilities.”

Berkely became the fourth Trinidadian national to be ordained bishop of TT. He follows in the footsteps of Calvin Wendell Bess (2001-2011), Rawle Douglin (1993-2001) and Clive Abdulah (1970-93).