Archbishop Drexel Wellington Gomez, one of the Caribbean’s most respected Anglican leaders, former Archbishop and Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, and the first Caribbean-born Bishop of Barbados in the 200-year-old Diocese, has died at the age of 88, in his native Bahamas after a months-long illness, media reports said.
He died at the home of his son, Damian, 63, a prominent lawyer and politician, the Nassau Guardian reported.
Gomez had been previously hospitalised with pneumonia following surgery and later diagnosed with stomach cancer, relatives said.
His relatives had asked for national prayers “for his well-being and healing, for his continued life of service to God, and for his continued example of prayer and faithful devotion”.
On June 24 1972, at age 36, he was consecrated and enthroned as Lord Bishop of Barbados at St Michael’s Cathedral — becoming both the first Caribbean-born Bishop of Barbados to hold the post and one of the youngest bishops in the diocese when it was created in 1824 with the enthronement of the first bishop, William Hart Coleridge, also at 36.
His appointment followed an impasse in the Elective Synod after Bishop Lewis Evans’s retirement, prompting regional bishops to select him for the Barbados See.
During his two decades in Barbados, Gomez developed a reputation as a dynamic and reform-minded leader who helped modernise the Anglican Church and strengthen its role in national life.
His tenure spanned an era of significant religious and social change, and he often spoke about moral renewal, education, and community upliftment. He was the last occupant of the church’s official residence since the 19th century, Bishop’s Court.
Gomez also lectured at Codrington College, where he mentored a generation of Anglican clergy from across the Caribbean.
Under his leadership, the See of Barbados deepened its intra-regional relations within the Church in the Province of the West Indies (CPWI) and strengthened lay participation in parish governance.
After leaving Barbados in 1992, Gomez was translated to The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands as bishop in 1996 and later elected Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies from 1996 until his retirement on December 31 2008.
Even after his tenure, Gomez maintained close ties with Barbados. In a major address to the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Diocese in 2024, he returned to familiar themes of moral and spiritual renewal across society.
He expressed concern over the erosion of core societal values: “So many of our precious core values, strengths of resilient survival and creative resistance, prudent emulation, compassionate concern, solidarity with the poor, mutual upliftment, personal decency, visions of better tomorrows, courageous sacrifices, and courage for wisdom. All of these seem to be diminishing.”
Archbishop Gomez attributed this decline to “the unchecked rise of individualistic and materialistic tendencies”, which he believes has led to the suppression of “the collective and creative human spirit”.
He called on the church to embody Christlike values and act as a vehicle for faith formation.
“Each diocese must therefore ensure that at every stage of personal development, from infancy to adulthood, adequate provision is to be made for the promotion of growth in the knowledge and understanding of Christian faith and practice,” he said.
Born on January 24, 1937 in the Berry Islands, Gomez grew up in the most populous New Providence Island, worshipping at St. Agnes Church in the capital, Nassau. He attended Western Senior School before travelling to Barbados to pursue theological studies at Codrington College, then a college of Durham University, where he completed his degree in 1959. He was ordained deacon that same year and priest in 1961.
After his early ministry as a parish priest, Gomez served as diocesan secretary in The Bahamas and later returned to Barbados as bishop.
Archbishop Gomez was deeply engaged in the Anglican Communion’s international affairs, representing the Caribbean province at four Lambeth Conferences, the assembly of bishops every ten years. He also chaired both the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and the Covenant Design Group, which produced the Anglican Covenant.
In 2003 he was appointed to the Lambeth Commission on Communion, contributing to the Windsor Report that sought to address tensions within the worldwide church.
Known for his conservative theological stance, he opposed the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions, which he characterised as “aggressive revisionist theology”. Nonetheless, he continually urged unity within the Anglican Communion, advocating dialogue through the framework of the Anglican Covenant.
Even in retirement, Archbishop Gomez remained active in church life. In 2022, the Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands honoured the 50th anniversary of his episcopal consecration with a week of celebrations, during which he served as celebrant at a pontifical eucharist.
Archbishop Gomez is survived by his widow Carol Gomez, with whom he had Damian, Dennis, Dominic and Deborah, and 11 grandchildren.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley expressed her condolences for the “soft-spoken gentleman” in a statement saying, “[He] was a special person — from his voice, which you could easily identify in any audience, to his ever-pleasant personality and smiling face. Looking back on my days as a girl at the St Mary’s Anglican Church and St Michael’s Cathedral, observing and interacting with a Bishop, whose dignity, warmth and ease of communication drew young and old alike to him.”
She went on to explain, “his warm smile and soft voice were not to be mistaken for weakness or fear. Even as a Bahamian priest who had been transplanted to Barbados to lead a church that was beginning to exert its Barbadianness, he was not afraid to stamp his own authority.” (BT)
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