Drexel Gomez

Life and ministry

Gomez was born on the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. He graduated from St Chad's College, Durham University, in 1959. He was enthroned and consecrated as Lord Bishop of Barbados in the Cathedral Church of St. Michael on 25 June 1972 and then in 1997 was elected the Bishop of the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

He was elected Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the West Indies in 1998. His full title became His Grace the Most Reverend Drexel Wellington Gomez, Lord Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of the Church of the West Indies & Bishop of the Diocese Of Nassau & The Bahamas (Including the Turks & Caicos Islands).

Along with Archbishop Peter Akinola, Anglican Primate of Nigeria, Gomez was a leading opponent of the ordination of practising homosexuals as Anglican clergy, an issue that escalated into a crisis for the Anglican Communion following the consecration of an openly non-celibate gay priest, Gene Robinson, as the Bishop of New Hampshire in the United States in 2003.

In October 2003, Gomez was appointed to the Lambeth Commission on Communion by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The commission produced the Report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion (also known as The Windsor Report and the Eames Report), published in October 2004.

In August 2007, Gomez was the main preacher at a service at which several Anglican archbishops consecrated two American priests as bishops despite the opposition of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Gomez accused the American church of "aggressive revisionist theology" and teaching lies.

He retired as bishop and archbishop in 2009.

Liturgical works