The Tribune

A MEMORIAL service will be held at 7pm on Tuesday at Christ Church Cathedral, George Street, for the Right Rev. Cornell Jerome Moss, Bishop of the Diocese of Guyana, including Suriname and Cayenne. Bishop Laish Boyd will officiate.

Bishop Moss died in Miami on Saturday where he was recuperating from aortic valve replacement surgery. The surgery was done on Friday, May 22. It was reported that his family and friends were in shock at his death as he appeared to be recovering from the surgery.

Bishop Moss was released from hospital on the evening of Tuesday, May 26, but had a relapse around 1pm on Saturday. Emergency services rushed him from his hotel room to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive and stabilise him.

The Diocese of Guyana extended condolences to his wife, Carol, and the rest of his immediate and extended family and friends.

“Bishop Cornell was indeed our shepherd, friend, father and confidant,” said a statement from the Diocese. “He possessed the qualities befitting of his office with the highest degree of confidence, discipline, tolerance, kindness and selflessness.

“He will forever be remembered for treating everyone with the respect and dignity they deserve despite their status, race, or creed and his dealings were above reproach.

“He was accepted as a true son of Guyana and our Diocesan Family embraced his ministry the moment he came to these shores. It was just over five years ago his ministry began here and if we at the Diocese of Guyana are to sum it up it would be in the words of 2 Timothy 4:7 ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’”

After graduation from St John’s College in Nassau, Bishop Moss entered Codrington College in Barbados where he received his BA degree in Theology. His Masters degree in Sacred Theology was from Nashotah House in Wisconsin, USA, followed by his Doctorate degree. He was ordained to the Anglican priesthood on January 5, 1984, by the late Bishop Michael Eldon.

Bishop Moss was appointed Curate at Christ the King Parish, Ridgeland Park, Nassau, and Rector of St John the Baptist Parish on Marsh Harbour, Abaco in September, 1986. After six and a half years, he was appointed second Rector of the Church of the Ascension, Freeport, in March 1992. In 2000, he became Archdeacon of the Northern Bahamas and was elected Bishop in August, 2009.

He was a resident of Cromwell Drive in Freeport.