DEPUTY president and warden of Anglican students at the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI) Rev Canon Garth Minott will be today — feast of St Barnabas — ordained and consecrated suffragan bishop of Kingston at Kingston Parish Church.

Minott was confirmed as Bishop-elect when he secured the required two-thirds majority of both the House of Clergy and the House of Laity in the Elective Assembly at the 151st Synod of the Diocese of Jamaica & The Cayman Islands on April 20.

He will be the seventh holder of the office.

Howard Gregory, archbishop of the West Indies and Bishop of Jamaica & The Cayman Islands, will be the chief consecrator at the service which begins at 10:00 am.

Co-consecrators will be Leopold Friday, bishop of the Windward Islands; Michael Maxwell, bishop of Barbados; Leon Golding, Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay; and retired bishops of the diocese, Harold Daniel (Mandeville) and Robert Thompson (Kingston).

Minott was ordained a deacon in 1992 and a priest in 1993. He has served as assistant curate at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Westgate, Montego Bay, before taking up duties as priest-in-charge and subsequently rector of St Mark’s Church, Brown’s Town, St Ann, between 1994 and 2003.

His commitment to the Church and its mission; his consistent leadership of the University Chapel community; and his 19-year stint at the UTCWI, where he was responsible for the formation of priests since 2003, are among highlights of the Bishop-elect’s ministry.

Minott is married to Denise and they have two sons, Mark and Stephen.

Previous suffragan bishops of Kingston include Percival Gibson, 1947-1955; E L Evans, 1957-1960; John Cyril Swaby, 1961-1968; Thomas John Clarke, 1968-1988; Herman Spence, 1989-2001; and Thompson, 2005-2020.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer after Minott’s election, predecessor Thompson said: “Canon Garth is pastorally sensitive; theologically sound with an understanding of the nuances of a vision for the church; and he has been a strong social advocate. He has quietly walked alongside the people and we need a bishop who will engage the people.”

He added that he is eminently qualified to lead the people and “brings hope for the church”.