By David W. Virtue on the Island of Anguilla
www.virtueonline.org
10/28/2008
I first met Bishop Errol Brooks at the Lambeth Conference earlier this year after the devastating murder of a honeymoon couple had ripped the heart out of the Island of Antigua's tourist industry. This island is part of his diocese. The murders profoundly affected him and his ministry. He wanted to tell the world that the islands of the Caribbean are still safe places to visit. My wife and I took a brief vacation on St. Maarten and visited the bishop at his home on the Island of Anguilla, a brief 20-minute ferry ride from the French side of the island of St. Maarten which is also part of the Caribbean chain of islands that he oversees. We met at his favorite restaurant, Johno's on the beach, a brief taxi ride from the port.
We talked at length about his present situation, the state of the Caribbean churches and the Anglican Communion through Caribbean eyes.
VOL: What is the geography of your diocese?
BROOKS: I oversee 12 islands including Aruba, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Gustas Chia, St. Barts, St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat and Dominica. It comes under the umbrella of the Diocese of the Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba. There are eight dioceses that make up the Anglican Province of the West Indies.
VOL: I gather you are the heir apparent to succeed Archbishop Drexel Gomez next year when he comes to retire. What will you bring to the table that will be different from your predecessor?
BROOKS: There are no guarantees that I will be the next archbishop. Drexel has given great leadership to the province. He has a first rate mind and is a good thinker. He is the primary architect of the Anglican Covenant.
VOL: What do you see as the problems facing Caribbean Anglicans?
BROOKS: The HIV situation is spreading and that is a deep concern. I want to build a deeper spirituality into our people. Our people are being bombarded by Fundamentalists bringing a false prosperity gospel into the community. Some Anglicans are buying into this health and wealth gospel which is no gospel.
VOL: You were at the Lambeth Conference. From your perspective, how did it go?
BROOKS: There were many good points. For example, we had a very good retreat which preceded the conference and in many respects, set the tone for the rest of the conference. The Bible Studies very good. A lot of bonding took place. In terms of the Indaba groups of getting down to the crux of the matter, I don't think it did. The issue of what is a bishop's ministry, the skirting around of the sexuality issues with regard to the 1998 Lambeth Resolution was not agreed on. Nonetheless I was glad to be there.
VOL: Do you think a Covenant will save the Anglican Communion?
BROOKS: I firmly believe that the Covenant is necessary. Those who would adhere to the tenets and can sign on and those who can't, they go their separate ways.
VOL: Canon Geoffrey Cameron of the Anglican Consultative Council says that if a whole province cannot sign on, then individual dioceses can sign on. Do you agree with that?
BROOKS: I would like to see whole provinces sign on. If you have individual dioceses only signing on, you have sheer confusion.
VOL: In your opinion can liberal and conservatives sign off on a covenant with integrity?
BROOKS: Yes, they can. The extremes can be held together on certain principles. There is a danger of accentuating culture over the gospel. The gospel must always triumph over culture, but inevitably some elements of the culture will be found in the presentation of the gospel. It is important to incorporate those things that are unique to your culture otherwise it will become foreign or imperial. Syncretism can also be dangerous. Still there is a uniqueness of the gospel that will contain elements of syncretism.
VOL: In retrospect would you have attended GAFCON in the Middle East?
BROOKS: I was invited to GAFCON, but I didn't think at the time that it was apropos. If they had gone to Lambeth first, it might have been different. It seemed very fundamentalist and fundamentalism is not good for Christianity.
VOL: How do you define Fundamentalism?
BROOKS: It is a very surface reading of scripture.
VOL: Where do you stand on the homosexual issues that are tearing the Anglican Communion apart?
BROOKS: I firmly believe that all persons are children of God. Because of sin in God's creation, sin it seems to me that there are some people who have their own agenda. They have been marred by sin and have developed errant ways. For some reason, people are pushed in certain directions and so the jury is still out. But Lambeth 1:10 was clear about marriage, but we must still have the listening process. Church has always had homosexuals. There has been a long history of it in Jamaica. It was very discrete. They (homosexuals) had a personal faith, but did not push themselves and say the whole church must go their way. We do not want to be homophobic, but we cannot endorse the behavior.
It seems to me (that homosexuality) is unnatural. From the Garden of Eden, it was always male and female for procreation. The marriage service cannot be changed for men to marry men.
VOL: What do you think about Bishop Gene Robinson's pushing of his homosexuality on the Anglican Communion?
BROOKS: Gene used to come here with his wife and children. Then he appeared one day without wife and kids and came with a male partner. After that we heard that my predecessor wrote to Gene and told him he was not welcome any more to preach and give communion on St. Barts Island. Gene was very annoyed. He and his friends threatened us with a letter stepping on his human rights. We wrote back saying we were not stopping Robinson from coming to St. Barts, but he could not function ecclesiastically. We were not inhospitable. We wrote saying please have respect for our faith and values. The bishops must always be a symbol of unity. He is not at all such a symbol. His being a bishop is very divisive.
VOL: Where do you stand on Women's Ordination?
BROOKS: I am very much in favor of women's ordination. We have four women priests and there are women deacons as well. When you baptize a male and female child there is no distinction. They are are eligible for ministry in the Body of Christ. If you give preference to the male in terms of ordination to the exclusion of females then you are discriminating. I believe with St. Paul that in Christ there is neither male nor female. We allow them to become priests but say they cannot be bishops is inconsistent. I think they are able to be bishops.
VOL: Is the Province and your diocese Anglo-Catholic or Evangelical?
BROOKS: Anglo-Catholic.
VOL: But Anglo-Catholics have been firmly against women's ordination. Is that not true?
BROOKS: Yes. But we have changed our position as we have come to understand Scripture.
VOL: What Prayer Book do you use?
BROOKS: We introduced a new Prayer Book to the West Indies in 1995, but there continues to be an attachment to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and people still express their love for it.
VOL: Are the Culture Wars in the Anglican Communion affecting West Indies Anglicans?
BROOKS: There have been spurts of that since the consecration of Robinson first took place. Many persons began labeling the Anglican Church and supporters in the gay movement. We have had the task of saying to people that we are autonomous (from The Episcopal Church) and that we have a Synod and governing body.
VOL: I have read that at least one Caribbean Bishop stands with The American Episcopal Church and Gene Robinson's consecration.Why do you think that is?
BROOKS: We are not all completely united though I am surprised to hear that one of our bishops openly supports the gay life.
VOL: What is your evangelism strategy when you become archbishop?
BROOKS: There is always room for improvement. Each diocese is autonomous. We suggest things to one another and encourage each other. There is no enforcement.
VOL: Is ALPHA acceptable as a means of evangelism?
BROOKS: It is working in some places. I like to think that it is more for beginners, those who are hearing the gospel for the first time.
VOL: What about pray, pay and obey Anglicans?
BROOKS: Nominalism is a big problem. There are many instances when a mission thrust is necessary. In many of our dioceses there are times when we did have mission thrusts. We need to move beyond maintenance.
VOL: Thank you bishop.
In a tribute to Bishop Brooks' Tenth Anniversary as a bishop in March of this year, the local newspaper wrote that he is one of Anguilla's accomplished and well-respected sons. A special service was held at St. Mary's Church on the Island of Anguilla. A large crowd, from all walks of life filled the church to capacity indicating the high esteem in which he is held and the great appreciation the populace has for his ministry in Anguilla and in the twelve-member islands of the Diocese.
He is the twelfth Bishop of the Diocese and has the distinction of living in his homeland outside the much-revered and lofty Bishop's Lodge at St. John's Cathedral in Antigua. It was not just a break with tradition, but a strong indicator of his humility and love for service at the lower level, preferring to remain in Anguilla, among his own citizenry, serving as a regular priest and travelling to the other islands ever so frequently at his own risk in his capacity as Bishop of the Diocese. That is a matter for much commendation and one of the reasons for the love he enjoys from his parishioners in Anguilla.
In addition to his commitment to the ministry of the church in general, is part of the admiration he has attracted in the sub-region and further a-field. He is also widely regarded for his religious tolerance, appreciation and respect for other religious faiths.
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