The Tribune

Hundreds of Anglicans from throughout the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands will gather at Christ Church Cathedral tonight for the Pontifical Concelebrated Eucharist to mark the opening of the 111th Session of the Synod of the Diocese.

Diocesan Bishop, the Right Reverend Laish Zane Boyd will be the Chief Celebrant and will deliver his annual charge to the synod and to the two nations.

In the charge he will give spiritual guidance to the synod and the wider communities.

Con-Celebrants will be the Reverend Gilbert A. Thompson, Assistant Bishop, the Reverend Canon Samuel Sturrup, Priest-in-Charge of St. James Parish, Adelaide, New Providence, and the Reverend Father Rodney Burrows, Priest-in-Charge of St. Augustine’s Parish, San Salvador.

The business sessions of the 111th synod will be held at Holy Trinity Centre from October 16 to 18.

The synod is the highest decision-making body in the local Anglican diocese and is made up of the diocesan bishop, all active clergy and two lay delegates from every parish. Synod is comprised of more than 150 persons who meet to deliberate on the affairs of the diocese.

The Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands is made up of 25 islands, 21 in the Bahamas and four in the Turks and Caicos Islands. There are currently 96 active congregations divided into 46 parishes.

The synod will receive reports from every archdeaconry, from the diocese’s education department, (which oversees the four schools, St. Anne’s and St. John’s in New Providence, Bishop Michael Eldon in Grand Bahama, and St .Andrew’s in Exuma), and from every other functioning diocesan ministry area.