The Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Howard Gregory, has been elected to serve as Archbishop and Primate of the Church of the Province of the West Indies. Archbishop Howard was elected from a shortlist of two – the other candidate was the Bishop of Belize, Phillip Wright. The election took place during the 40th Synod of the province, which is taking place this week at the Cascadia Hotel in the St Ann’s district of Port of Spain, Trinidad. He succeeds Archbishop John Holder who retired as Bishop of Barbados in February 2018.

Archbishop Howard is the first Jamaican-born Archbishop of the West Indies; but not the first Bishop of Jamaica to hold the post. Archbishop Enos Nuttall was Bishop of Jamaica between 1880 and 1916; and Archbishop William Hardie served between 1931 and 1949. Bishop Orland Lindsay, who served as Archbishop while Bishop of Antigua between 1986 and 1998, had served in Jamaica prior to his consecration.

Following his election, Archbishop Howard told reporters that there were a number of social issues that the Church in the West Indies needed to address. “At the moment we are dealing with issues related to abortion, we are dealing with issues related to marijuana, we are dealing with issues related to human trafficking and as a church we certainly have to be a part of the engagement of the society bring in some perspectives to bear on these things, not just out of emotion, not just political partisan in anyway but to bring our theological and biblical perspective to bear on these situations,” he said.

• The Anglican Communion News Service will carry a fuller report later this week.