Thousands of mournful Bahamians and visitors crowded local Catholic churches on Sunday sharing in a kind of global grief, one day after the death of Pope John Paul II.
Born in Krakow, Poland in 1920, Pope John Paul II was given the name Karol Jozef Wojtyla. He was called to papacy on October 16, 1978 and continued his tenure as pope for nearly 27 years until his death on Saturday.
Among many great accomplishments during his tenure, Pope John Paul II will always be remembered in The Bahamas for giving this nation its first archbishop and elevating the diocese of Nassau into an archdiocese during his visit in 1979.
Father Kendrick Forbes, Rector of Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral, on Sunday described the connection between Bahamian Catholics and the pontiff as an intimate one and added that he will always remember the forgiving spirit of Pope John Paul II.
ﾓWhat he means to us is, what he means to the world and to the universal church,ﾒ he said. ﾓHe is a man whose life was modeled after the life of Christ in more ways than one. In him, people saw holiness, faith, hope, and love not as something abstract, but human love.
ﾓI have never met the pope personally, but one of the memories I have of the pope is the fact that when he was shot he went to his would-be assassin and forgave him. He reminded us of the goodness that exists within us and what we are called to be and that is something I will treasure as a young priest.ﾒ
Marjorie Davis, considered by many to be the mother of the cathedral, said that the passing of the pope was indeed a sad event. She considered the pontiff above all to be a man of God who was a shepherd who has led many sheep into the fold of Christianity.
Mrs. Davis said that through the death of the pope there is a message to be learnt.
ﾓWe thank God for his life and we hope that his passing would bring many persons back to the church,ﾒ she said. ﾓThose who do not give much thought to God, we hope that they would reflect on their life and realize that we all will have to go that road some day. Life is precious no matter who we are and we must all love one another and live as Christ has taught us.ﾒ
Similarly, the passing of the pontiff also saddened Evelyn McKinney, an usher at St. Francis Xavier.
She said she met the holy father as a teenager when she sang in a choir during his visit in 1979.
Ms. McKinney remembered the pope for the transcending nature of his ministry to impact all persons, even those of different creeds.
She hopes that his replacement carries on his legacy.
According to Joann Simmons-Johnson, this moment that is shared by all Catholics worldwide is indeed a solemn one. She said that though he has passed, she is constantly praying that Jesus would bless the work done by Pope John Paul II.
Calvin Greene, who is also a member of the church, said that Catholics have lost a great spiritual leader.
He said the popeﾴs ministry impact him personally and that he is glad to have lived during his papacy.
Yvette Johnson, who is also an usher at St Francis Xavier, said that she had mixed feelings about the death of the pontiff, adding that on the one hand she is saddened by his death while at the same time she is happy that he is at peace.
Although there is a certain measure of sadness, the death of His Holiness really spells a transition from one papacy to another, according to Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese in The Bahamas Patrick Pinder.
In an interview with The Bahama Journal at The Hermitage on Sunday, Archbishop Pinder said the popeﾴs death was significant to Bahamians because The Bahamas was the first English-speaking country he visited after being called to papacy.
Narrowing the focus, Archbishop Pinder said that the death of the pope was significant to him for a number of reasons.
ﾓAs for me personally, Pope John Paul II appointed me the first Bahamian Bishop of the Catholic Church,ﾒ he said. ﾓMy cathedra, that is the chair in the cathedral, from which the cathedral takes its name, was actually the chair used for the pope when he visited here is early 1979.ﾒ
ﾓAs I mentioned to the people on Friday evening when we had a special evening of prayer for the Holy Father, just as we share a common apostolic tradition we also in a sense share the same seat. Over and beyond that there is also a special challis that he gave the archdiocese in our cathedral as a special gift or a memento.ﾒ
Archbishop Pinder pointed out that at present there are no Cardinals from the English-speaking Caribbean, which means that it is extremely unlikely that anyone in the region would be appointed pope.
However, there does exist the possibility of the new pope being of African decent because there is presently an African Cardinal.
Perez Clarke, The Bahama Journal
