Repairs completed to St. John’s Cathedral

It’s one of the nation’s most important buildings…but because the years have not been kind to St. John’s Cathedral, its congregants have had to fight a constant battle to keep the landmark in shape. This weekend they’ll celebrate the latest small victory over the elements. Ann-Marie reports.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting

“The restoration of the cathedral started way back in 1995 as a small idea by three members of the congregation, but it wasn’t until May of 2001 that work actually got underway. Today, final preparations are in full swing for Saturday morning, when the bells will toll in the newly restored Anglican Cathedral.”

Beverly Brown, Member, Restoration Committee

“Yes, we will be ready for Saturday. The rededication is on Saturday at 10:00am, and we’re looking forward to having a packed congregation. The roof has been renewed, it’s an entirely new roof. We have put in a new carpet and we have refurbished the pews. The walls have been painted and also, we have rewired the entire building. That has cost us quite a bit, it took us, for the restoration committee, six years.”

And the monies raised by the committee, close to quarter million dollars, was done the old-fashioned way. Beverly Brown is one of the dozen members of the restoration committee.

Beverly Brown

“For five years we have been having an international food fiesta, which is a great success. We’ve had excursions to many places in and around Belize. We’ve also had a very popular bake sale on Mother’s Day, every year for the last five years. All our ventures have been successful.”

Parish priest for sixteen years Father Lloyd Neal, says the restoration is a blessing. He recalls the challenging days of conducting services at Bishop Sylvestre Memorial Centre.

Fr. Lloyd Neal, Parish Priest

“Going over to Bishop Sylvestre Memorial Centre, was a trying time for all the older members of our congregation. Especially seeing that many of them complained that the height of the steps troubled them a bit in getting up and down. That was one disadvantage, and then others felt that it didn’t give them that aura of being in church, because that place has been used and after this will be used for a lot of civic activities. I look forward to having a wonderful time serving my people in the cathedral, seeing that a lot has been restored now. We have restored the roof to the tune of a hundred and thirty-six thousand, three hundred and eight dollars, twenty-five cents.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“The foundation stone for St. John’s Cathedral, the oldest Anglican/Episcopal cathedral in Central America, was laid in 1812. Today, one hundred eighty-nine years later, this Belize City landmark has enjoyed a long and eventful history.”

Bishop Romero Sylvestre Palma, Anglican Diocese

“As you know, the British came here and brought the religion with them. The first priest that came to serve in this country in 1776 was Robert Shaw. And he got ill and was asked to stay here and almost forced to stay here. But that was the beginning of something more official and more defined as the Anglican Church within Belize. And it was only 1883 and a few years later that we had our own bishop, an Englishman. It was in the 70s I think when we had our first local bishop through Bishop Sylvestre.”

Two subsequent bishops followed, Keith Alfonso Macmillan and Desmond Smith. Then in January of 1994, Bishop Sylvestre Romero Palma took over the cathedral. A job he says was not without its share of challenges, the greatest of which he feels is a lack of leadership.

Bishop Sylvestre Romero Palma

“Once you bring a person within the church, you do not only want that person to come in and worship on Sundays and that’s all, but to get these persons active so that they can go out into the world to serve in their communities. I think this is the biggest challenge to the Anglican Church, so when a member comes into this church, this is what we emphasise and we try to make them active within the church. That is very difficult if a congregation is not active within the community, then very quickly that member will go out into some other congregation.”

Romero Palma, since taking over the parish, says more people are coming to church, and the congregation is growing despite the latest census figures, which show that the number of Anglicans in the country have taken a back seat to the Adventists, who are now the third largest religion, and the Pentecostals, which rank second.

Bishop Sylvestre Romero Palma

“When I think there were twenty-five congregations, not all were active. We have open up new congregations, one in Punta Gorda and we have opened up three Hispanic congregations in the west. We’re working on opening a congregation with the Garifuna, so as much as the census says our membership has declined, I think that we have worked very hard to bring our Anglicans back into the church and to reach out to other new members.”

Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.

The rededication service begins Saturday morning at 10:00.