Unveiling of a plaque in honour of former Bishop of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands, The Rt. Rev. Hon. and Dr. Neville deSouza, will be the centerpiece of a Service at the Spanish Town Cathedral on Sunday, June 11 to celebrate the late Bishop’s contribution to the life and work of the Church.
The plaque will be unveiled by Bishop deSouza’s widow, Mrs. Iona deSouza.
The Senior Canon and Rector of the Cathedral, the Very Rev. Collin Reid, will preside at the Solemn Evensong which will begin at 3.30 p.m.; and The Rt. Rev. Dr. Howard Gregory, Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, will preach. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Robert Thompson, Bishop of Kingston, will officially welcome worshippers who will include public officials led by the Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Diocese, The Hon. Mrs. Justice Zaila McCalla. The Kingston College Chapel Choir will lead the singing.
A Collection will be taken at the Service for the Rebuilding Fund of the Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, which was destroyed by fire early this year.
The fourth Jamaican to head the local Church, Bishop deSouza guided its ministry for 21 years from 1979 to September 2000. He was widely recognized in the Church and the nation for his fearless advocacy for justice and betterment of the lives of ordinary Jamaicans. Among the highlights of his episcopacy was the historic admission of the first three women as Deacons in 1994 and two years later, the ordination of the first four women as priests.
Bishop deSouza was the first Diocesan Bishop to receive the Order of Jamaica (OJ) which was conferred in 1991, the same year that he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of the West Indies. He died in December 2015.
