Bishop Dorick Wright: Jovial but Stern

Dorick Wright

Bishop Dorick Wright passed away at five-fifteen on Wednesday morning in Belize City. In paying homage to Bishop Wright, his colleagues in the priesthood have been reflecting on his many achievements, as well as his personality.  While the Catholic Church mourns his passing, arrangements are being made to lay him to rest in the days ahead.  Bishop Wright, a former senator, is expected to be honoured by the Government of Belize; however, during a national state of emergency it is unclear how his funeral service will be held.  Here is more from Father Noel Leslie who has been a close friend of Bishop Wright for the past sixty-five years.

Noel Leslie

Fr. Noel Leslie, Friend of Bishop Wright

“First of all, we have to look at him as a pastor.  He was very dedicated as a pastor.  He enjoyed visiting the hospital, visiting the sick; in fact, that was a priority for him every morning to make his rounds at the hospital.  He enjoyed visiting parishioners.  He loved to go to wakes, especially in the out-districts.  He worked in Orange Walk and there were many stories told about him going to wakes and so forth at that time and I would say that as a priest, he took celebrating mass quite seriously.  He enjoyed making sure that things were set up properly for that particular occasion.  As a priest, I would say he was very pastoral.  He was clearly stern at times, he didn’t let things go by so easily.  He dealt with things the best way he could at that particular time…  He served as the bishop’s right hand man, at that time it was Bishop Martin, as his Vicar General, and he carried out his duties quite diligently assisting Bishop Martin on several occasions, going to the districts to confirm when Bishop Martin was reaching his advanced years and couldn’t get around as he’d want to, Bishop Wright would substitute for that and of course he enjoyed it.  Then we saw what was coming in time.”