Plaque unveiled

The Church of the Holy Cross in St. John now bears a commemorative plaque, as a reminder of the cruelty of slavery and stating the church’s commitment for the future.

It was blessed by The Most Reverend Dr. Daniel Yinkah Sarfo, Archbishop of the Internal Providence of Ghana and Bishop of Kumasi in the Church of the Providence of West Africa and unveiled by Bishop of Barbados, Michael Maxwell during the midday Eucharist at the church on Wednesday.

This service was attended by archbishops, bishops and other members of the United Society Partners In The Gospel (USPG). The 25-member delegation, who are from difference countries, are in Barbados for the USPG’s triennial international consultation.

Speaking to the media after the service, Principal of Codrington College, Reverend Dr. Michael A. Clarke explained that the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, West Africa was utilised for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It is there that a plaque exists indicating that slavery was an atrocious thing that occurred and it should not happen again. USPG at present has a chapel in this section of Ghana and the decision was taken to place a plaque in Barbados, one of countries where slaves were sent, to remind of the horrific actions of the past and reaffirm the stance that it is not to occur again.

“So the plaque therefore stands as a connection to Ghana in many ways. To sort of bridge that gap so that we can see that there is hope and together we make the commitment that the church must never ever be involved in any way the exclusion of individuals from the gospel or in any form of injustice. So that plaque for us now stands to speak to that for us,” he stated. (MG)