George the Saint  Church History  Anglican Diocese  Diocese 2000 & Beyomo  Parish Ministries  Weekly Notices  Prayer & Intercessions  Service & Music  Youth & Young People  Pastoral Comentary  Cursillo Movement  Photo Gallery  Our Values  Readings for the Week  Parish Newsletter  Websites Links  Constact us & Staff  Faith Alive  Cell Church  Podcast  Church Online Calendar          Anglicans Say Farewell To Fr. Pierre Anglicans around the Bahamas, the Province of the West Indies along with family and friends of the Rev’d Fr. Roland Anderson Pierre gathered at the St. Georges’s Anglican Church this past Saturday to celebrate his life and ministry and to bid farewell to his mortal remains during a solemn Pontifical Mass of the Resurrection. Presiding over the early morning service was His Grace the Most Reverend Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of The West Indies and Bishop of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Other prelates attending the service included The Rt. Rev’d Michael Eldon, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev’d Gilbert A. Thompson, Suffragan Bishop of New Providence and the Rt. Rev’d Rawle E. Douglin, Retired Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago, who led the Commendation. It was in the Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago that Fr. Pierre spent most of brief years as ordained priest, although he arrived in the Bahamas in 1958 along with forty-six other young men to serve as officers on the Royal Bahamas Police Force. “Our country will be eternally grateful for men like Roland Pierre who came to our country to assist us in nation building” said the Rt. Rev’d Michael Eldon in briefs remarks during the service. On the force Fr. Pierre rose to the ranks and retired as an Assistant Superintendent of Police After his return to civilian life in Trinidad he answered the call to test his vocation to the sacred priesthood, studying at Codrington College in Barbados. After his ordination he was appointed Priest-In-Charge of St. David Toco Anglican in Church and then the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was during his tenure at the Church of the Good Shepherd that he was taken seriously ill and after seeking medical treatment in the United States, returned to Trinidad and then to his home in Cable Beach with his wife Jewel, nee Fernander of Rock Sound, Eleuthera, whom he married in 1965. Fr. Pierre died quietly on Saturday July 5th at the Princess Margaret Hospital. In addition the principal officiants of the service, other priests attending the service and serving around the altar included Rev’d Jonathan Archer, Priest-In-Charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Governors Harbour, Eleuthera, Archdeacons, Keith Cartwright and I. Ranfurly Brown, Canons Warren Rolle and Neil Eric Roach, Frs. Atma Budhu, and Samuel Sturrup and Rector of St. George’s, Fr. G. Kingsley Knowles. Serving as chief master of ceremonies was Canon to the Ordinary, Canon Leopold Cox. The music for the occasion, including hymns selected by Fr. Pierre, was under the direction of Adrian Archer, Director of Music for St. George’s. The forty voice choir of the parish led the singing of psalm forty-six and offered two anthems during the service and at the conclusion led the commendation by chanting the “Russian Contakion” and at its conclusion sang G. F. Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” Mrs. Brenda Archer, principal organist of the parish played for the service. A poignant moment of the service came when Fr. Pierre’s widow, Jewel, the assistant organist at St. George’s, left her seat at the front of the church and ascended the balcony to the choir loft to accompany the congregation in the singing of his favorite hymn “Lord Pour Thy Spirit From On High.” Other participants of the service included readers, Dr Lockley Munroe and Gillian Pierre. The Intercessions were led by Barbara Pierre and Counsse Knight. At the conclusion of the service, while the organist played the postlude and Bishop Douglin recited the final verses, Fr. Pierre body was borne from the church to its final resting place at St. Anne’s Cemetery by fellow clerics, Fr. Kingsley Knowles, Fr. Atma Budhu, Fr. Sammy Sturrup, Canon Neil Roach, Canon Warren Rolle and Archdeacon Keith Cartwright. Photo: 9581 The Body of Fr. Pierre is brought into the church in procession accompanied by clerical Pall Bearers Photos: 9596.. Members of the singing choir line the entrance of St. George's while Fr. Pierre's Body is taken from the church by pall bearers, Fr. Atma Budhu, Fr. Sammy Sturrup, Canon Warren Rolle, Archdeacon Keith Cartwright, Canon Neil Roach and Fr. Kingsley Cartwright. Photo: 9591: Retired Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago, the Rt. Rev'd Rawle Douglin censes the body of Fr. Pierre during the commendation at the conclusion of the service. Photo: 2066 Fr. Pierre is pictured with his wife Jewel at the Anniversary Banquet for Bishop Michael Eldon in November of 2001