Bishop-elect Fr Kendrick Forbes said that he is honored and humbled for being selected as Bishop of the Diocese of Roseau and he promised to be a shepherd who cares and a listening presence to the Catholic faithful on the island.
He spoke to the Trinidad-based Catholic TV station, Trinity TV, mere hours after the news of his selection was made public by the Vatican on Thursday morning.
“I am experiencing a whole wide range of emotions right now, emotions are all over the place,” he said when asked to give his reaction to the calling of being the chief shepherd of the Catholic Church in Dominica. “The thought processes are not necessarily clear, still trying to come to terms with what I have been carrying over the last couple of days and that was publicly announced this morning. But I feel honored and I am humbled by the Holy Father’s decision to nominate me as the Bishop of the Diocese of Roseau, Dominica.”
He stated that he looks forward to being in Dominica and meeting his new flock.
“I look forward to meeting the people, clergy of Dominica and learning from that rich Catholic heritage, tradition that they hold,” he remarked.
Father Forbes said as a Bishop he wants to be a shepherd who cares and who wants to journey with his flock.
“Hopefully, one of the things that I want to bring is a presence of a shepherd who cares, a shepherd who seeks to journey with the flock,” he remarked. “You know one of the things that I hope to do, I hope I get the opportunity to travel Dominica to visit and meet the clergy and the faithful within the next couple of weeks. I just don’t want to show up days before my ordination. I would like to be able to travel there and meet with the community, to meet the church there.”
He also said he wants to be a listening presence to the Catholic faithful. “One of the things I hope is just to bring a listening presence, a presence of someone who is on a journey, a path to holiness that we all are called to and just striving to walk with them in that regards and learning from them as well,” he stated.
The man of the cloth credits his vocation to his grandmother who he said was very involved in the church on the Bahamian island of Long Island where grew up.
“She was the organist on the parish there on Long Island,” he explained. ” She was also the lead for what was called the Catholic community band there on the island. Her involvement in the church meant that whoever lived under her roof had to become involved in the church as well. And so that was the rule but it seemed like I was the only one who could not get away with missing Mass or skipping some church involvement. I recall when I first told her that I was thinking about becoming a priest. I remember very well, I was backing out of the carport of my aunts home in Nassau and I said to her, we called her mom at that time, I said, ‘mom I am thinking about becoming a priest and I am thinking about entering the seminary.’ And I recall her just looking at me and saying, ‘Kenny, I had always prayed that you would answer the call.’ Never once that she ever say to me I want you to become a priest but over the years she saw something in me that I did not see in myself.”
The Bishop-elect, who was raised by a single mom and who has eight siblings, is from the Archdiocese of Nassau in the Bahamas. He was born on 20 August 1975 in Nassau, Bahamas, and was the Vicar General, Judicial Vicar, and Parish Priest of Saint Paul in Nassau Bahamas. He was ordained a priest in Nassau on 1 June 2002.
During his career as a priest he served in the following capacities:
2002-2004: Associate to the Cathedral Rector
2004-2006: Rector of the Cathedral
From 2004: Judicial Vicar of the Archdiocese of Nassau
2006-2009: Parish Priest of Holy Family Catholic Church
From 2009: Parish Priest of St. Paul the Apostle Church
From 2012: Chairman Archdiocesan Review Board
From 2015: Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Nassau
