On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 the Diocese of the Virgin Islands celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Transfer of the four Anglican congregations in the United States Virgin Islands from the Diocese of Antigua (now the Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba). It is to be noted that from 1842 to 1919 the Diocese of Antigua included the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. On April 30, 1919, the four congregations: namely, St. John, St. Paul and Holy Cross on St. Croix, and All Saints on St. Thomas, were transferred to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. These congregations were placed under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Missionary District of Puerto Rico until 1947. In that year, the churches in the U.S. Virgin Islands became the Missionary District of the Virgin Islands with the Bishop of Puerto Rico as the Bishop in Charge. In 1963, the congregations on the British Virgin Islands were transferred to the Diocese of the Virgin Islands.
At a special service to mark the Centenary, which was held at All Saints Cathedral on St. Thomas, The Rt. Rev. L. Errol Brooks, Bishop of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, presided and preached. The Bishop of the Virgin Islands, The Rt. Rev. E. Ambrose Gumbs, who also hails from Anguilla, along with several of the clergy in that Diocese, con-celebrated with Bishop Brooks.
On Sunday, May 5, 2019, Bishop Brooks was the Chief Celebrant and Preacher at St. Monica’s Church in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, as they celebrated their Feast of Title.
From May 26 – 30, 2019, Bishops, Clergy and Lay Persons from across the eight (8) dioceses of the Church in the Province of the West Indies (CPWI) will meet in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in Synod. The eight are: the Dioceses of Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, Belize, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Windward Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The Synod will commence with the Opening Service on Sunday, May 26, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral. At this service, the Rt. Rev. L. Errol Brooks, Senior Bishop, will be the Chief Celebrant and Preacher. During this Synod the election of an Archbishop of the Province will take place. Any one of the eight Diocesan Bishops can be elected to the office of Archbishop of the Church in the Province of the West Indies.
