The Rt. Rev. L. Errol Brooks, one of Anguilla’s leading Clergymen, has just celebrated forty-two happy and successful years in the ordained ministry of the Anglican Church, and despite what may have been his challenges along the way, he is being urged on by his own spiritual commitment, drive and passion.
Widely respected and admired, he has moved from an ordained Deacon, Priest and Canon to the lofty ordination of Bishop of the Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba. Rather than residing, the home of the historic St. John’s Cathedral in Antigua, he has chosen to live in Anguilla, his homeland, still humbly serving as a Priest, but travelling extensively to the eleven other member territories of the Diocese for which he has responsibility.
He celebrated over four decades as an ordained Priest with Mass at St. Mary’s on Saturday, December 2, when a number of parishioners and other persons were in attendance. “I was very pleased to see the turnout. It said something – that people really care,” he told The Anguillian newspaper.
Trained at Codrington Theological College and the University of the West Indies (among other places), he was ordained as a Priest on December 2, 1975, at St. John’s Cathedral – 42 years ago. “I consider them to be wonderful years,” he reflected. “I have had the opportunity to work in many places – Antigua, of course, and then on to St. Maarten and from there to Anguilla. But intermittently I worked in different places like Aruba and at one point I was in charge of Saba, Statia, St. Barths and Anguilla. I have preached in every island of the Diocese in the Province of the West Indies and outside the Diocese. Everywhere I served, people were very receptive and very kind.”
Bishop Brooks saw this as being in line with what Jesus said about leaving family and everything else and following Him. “Surely enough, as one goes around the world doing God’s work, people treat you as mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. It is a wonderful experience,” he said. “I would encourage anybody who is thinking about the ordained ministry as a vocation to go for it. God’s call is always there and if you respond, His grace will carry you through. As St. Paul would say, ‘His grace is sufficient for all things’. That doesn’t mean that from time to time you won’t have challenges – as one of our hymns says ‘It is hard to work for God’. That includes standing up for what is right and when you do so, and for whatever principle, you will always have those persons who would balk at you or whatever you are doing, but you will have to stand firm.”
Given his calibre and ability, Bishop Brooks could have been serving in some lucrative profession, but chose the humility and service of a dedicated preacher and servant. “There is much satisfaction in that,” he commented. “When you see people developing into the persons that God would have them be, it is very satisfying. Material things are important, mark you, but you cannot make them all of your existence. We have seen quite recently that you can have this world but in the twinkling of an eye it could be taken away. Just think about Hurricanes Irma and Maria – those material things you have can just disappear. Another hymn I like to quote, states: ‘Change and decay in all around I see. O Thou, who changest not, abide with me’. God is constant, faithful and doesn’t let us down.”
Asked what might have been his most significant experience in the ministry, he intimated that it was his election by the House of Bishops to be the Bishop of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba – nineteen years ago. “My modus operandi has been, and is, that I do what I am called to do,” he replied. “Along the way you get called up to a higher service but not that you are looking for it. I always remember the time when we had the election for the Bishop of the Diocese. I was in England attending, of all things, a Bishops’ Conference hosted by the Bishop of St. Albans.
“I was not a Bishop then, but was chosen to go there and the word came that nominations for Bishop of our Diocese were about to take place. I had calls from persons asking me for permission to put up my name but I said ‘I am not really interested in being a bishop and that I am happy as a parish priest and they backed off. While I was in South London, the person who was the representative of the Diocese of Guyana, and some friends, carried me to Walsingham – a shrine and replica of a village in Nazareth where Jesus was born.
“When we got there, she (the person) introduced me to a very tall old priest and told him that ‘the next time you see him he probably won’t be called Canon Brooks but Bishop Brooks.’ I said ‘I am not interested in that, you know.’ The old priest looked at me and said ‘my son, if God wants you to be a bishop, you will be a bishop.’ We toured the shrine and then went back across Cambridgeshire where all the farms were nicely laid out and this thing ‘if God wants you to be a bishop, you will be a bishop’ kept reverberating in my head and here was I trying to ignore it by looking at the farms.”
The Anguillian preist was later telephoned again by a number of clergy and lay persons who asked permission to put up his name for nomination, but he declined once more. He went on: “However, I rationalised and said ‘well, it is an election and it doesn’t mean that I am going to be elected’ and I left it at that. On the day of the election, I was shocked to see how the votes had gone… and the rest in history.” That was in 1997. He was consecrated Bishop on March 25, 1998 and while some people in the Diocese expected him to take up residence in Antigua, he decided to live in Anguilla as stated earlier.
“Interesting enough, the Provincial Canons (rules) actually state that the Bishop resides within his jurisdiction so I can go to Aruba or Saba as long as I am in the jurisdiction,” he explained. “Given all the technology we have, the work goes on.”
The Provincial Canons also provide that a Bishop should remain in office until his 70th birthday but, much to the pleasure of everybody in Anguilla, Bishop Brooks has several more years before his retirement. And even then, he will still have the option to serve in the ministry as he may desire.
What advice does Bishop Brooks have for the religious community and the citizenry on a whole?
“I want to commend all those who are spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God, and I would encourage the citizenry to remember that God comes first and that they should give God pre-eminence in their lives,” he responded. “Do not get carried away by the glamour and the amassing things. The point I made at the funeral last Saturday (for Mr. Albert Lake) was that true greatness, doesn’t reside in the wealth and the other things you have. That is the world’s assessment of greatness but greatness in the Kingdom of God entails service to your fellow human beings.”
The Bishop took the opportunity to comment on a matter which occurred in Anguilla when he was visiting Antigua recently. “I was shocked when I came back to Anguilla and learned than only 72 people attended the Thanksgiving Service at the close of the hurricane season,” he stated. “Our people need to stop awhile and rethink and see what the things of value in life are. We need to have a centre we can hold on to. That centre is Christ and it is not too late to make a turn around. One of the things about the Christian life is that God gives us a second chance. God was so good to us to spare our lives after that horrific hurricane and we should be constantly saying thank you, God, not only in words, but in the way we live.”
Bishop Brooks is grateful to all persons for their overwhelming support and good wishes, over the years , for his ministry so far – and looks forward to their continuing assistance and goodwill.
