Dear Editor,
Bishop Cornell Jerome Moss would be remembered for the many possibly controversial things that he achieved in his short term with us, (a bit more than five years) as spiritual leader to Guyana’s Anglican community.
He was like one of our early governors who exhausted himself and died in the colony trying to achieve many things in a short time.
I think he got it right when he broke with tradition and rearranged the way that the Anglican Diocese in Guyana is administered, creating a management structure headed by five Archdeacons, in five Archdeaconries which covered the whole of Guyana including Suriname, as he was Bishop of Guyana and Suriname.
Several Synods ago, the Reverend Atma Boodhoo brought up the question of upward mobility/promotional opportunities for the priesthood. The fact that he and many other talented priests are no longer with us, having migrated to greener pastures, should give the reader the answer whether this matter was ever adequately addressed.
Bishop Cornell was trying to do something about this, having said that he came for about ten years and therefore his administrative rearrangements seemed to indicate that at some time in the future we should be able to generate leaders from within the diocese that had the capacity to become bishops.
He got it right again when he was instrumental in increasing the number of men who had entered Codrington College in Barbados, to be trained as priests for Guyana.
Of course in many of our national organisations there is the need for adequate training, coupled with administrative and management practices that encourage natural leaders to develop who would eventually be capable of running that organisation. A few of the organisations currently on the news now might have benefited from this long-term approach, although modern management practices tend to support importation of managers from outside into the organisation, with the expectation that they can magically ‘turn things around.’
Bishop Cornell got it right as a fearless leader in making decisions that seemed to be ‘untouchable’ like the demolition and sale of the St Barnabas Church and land, although the original directive was actually made years ago by Archbishop Knight.
During his time, a number of church buildings were refurbished, including Austin House, and much work was done with the youth organisations of the diocese.
Farewell Lord Bishop!
Yours faithfully,
David H J Dewar
