On Sunday September 4, 1977, the Church of Reconciliation was officially opened jointly by the Most Reverend Samuel E. Carter, The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston, Jamaica and the Right Reverend Herbert Edmondson, Anglican Lord Bishop of Jamaica .
The Roman Catholic priests were two Friars of the Atonement, namely Fr. Martin Carter as pastor, with Fr. Richard Albert as associate pastor. The Anglican pastor was Fr. Edmund Davis, who was also General Secretary of the Jamaica Council of Churches.
No one seemed to have any records as to when if ever, a joint church, owned by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church existed in any other part of the world. It was truly a historic occasion and a plus for Church unity.
That such a thing should happen in Jamaica was of complete irony. Four hundred and eighty three years previously, in May 1494, Christopher Columbus had arrived on the north coast of Jamaica on his second voyage to the so-called new world.
By 1510, Spanish settlers arrived and the island was formally in possession of the King of Queen of Spain. And being Spanish colony, it meant that the people of the island, especially the Spanish settlers, were Roman Catholic.
In 1513, the first of the African slaves after Columbus’ 1494 visit would arrive in Jamaica. Many of these would Christianized by baptism in the Roman Catholic Church. And along with the people that Columbus saw when he arrived, the Tainos (mistakenly called Arawaks for centuries), made up the population of Jamaica at that time.
In May 1655, Jamaica was invaded and captured by English military men. A feet led by Admiral Peen and General Venables had set out on instructions by the ruler of England, Oliver Cromwell, to capture neighbouring Hispaniola. Having failed to do so, they decided to capture Jamaica and succeeded.
At this point Church of England or Anglican Church became the established Church in Jamaica. One hundred and twenty one years previously, in England, King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and set up the Church of England. It was against the law to be Roman Catholic in England and Jamaica, now a colony of England, was subjected to the same laws. Indeed, it was illegal to be Roman Catholic in Jamaica for the 137 years between 1655 and 1792.
The Jesuits, to whom the island had been entrusted by the pope in 1837, when the Vicariate of Jamaica was established, would do some serious evangelizing and in time the Chinese immigrants would enter the Church.
In 1956, Jamaica was elevated from a Vicariate to the Diocese of Kingston. In 1967, the Diocese of Kingston was elevated to an Archdiocese. At the same time the Diocese of Montego Bay was established. In 1970, The Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Kingston, The Most Reverend Samuel Carter, a Jamaican, succeeded the American born J.J. McEleney as Archbishop of Kingston.
There was a Synod of Bishop in Rome in 1975. Archbishop Carter attended and Fr. Reece went as his assistant. It was there that Fr. Reece introduced Archbishop Samuel Carter to the Minister-General of the Society of the Atonement. And it was arranged that the Atonement priests would be the Catholic clergy for the Church of Reconciliation an the other Churches in Portmore including St. Francis Xavier in Christian Pen, near Gregory Park.
In the late summer of 1976, two Atonement priests arrived. One was Fr. Martin Carter and Fr. Richard Albert. The first place where mass was kept was at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hibbert. In later years, Riley Hibbert would become a Deacon of the Church, with special responsibility for Our Lady of Hope, Central Village. Deacon Hibbert died in 2002.
In the early months of 1977, the Church of Reconciliation was completed. The Roman Catholic clergy and religious would occupy one of two houses beside the Church and the Anglican priest and his family would occupy the other. On Sunday September 4, 1977, the joint opening took place in the afternoon.
Since the 1980's, Diocesan priests have served the needs of parish. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) expanded its Mission activity when Fr. Adam Oleszczuk, SVD and newly assigned Fr. Elias Aiyako, SVD became Pastor and Assistant pastor for the two churches in the Portmore area. In 2006 Fr. Elias returned to Papua New Guinea, and Fr. Vicente Dominguez, SVD joined Fr. Adam in January 2007. The two continue to serve as the Pastoral Team along with the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity to the present.
Church of Reconciliation
