JAMAICA
The Mass of Christian Burial for Bishop Emeritus Burchell McPherson of the Diocese of Montego Bay will be held Saturday, April 18 at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Cathedral on North Street in Kingston, Jamaica. Interment will follow in the Cathedral cemetery. A vigil service is scheduled for Friday, April 17 at Sts Peter and Paul Church.
Bishop McPherson died March 25. In the announcement of his passing that same day via a statement, Archbishop Kenneth Richards of Kingston said, “we are thankful to our good Lord for his commitment and dedication in his service to the church.”
In a tribute published in the diocesan monthly online Catholic Opinion and issued on behalf of the Diocese of Montego Bay, Apostolic Administrator Bishop John Persaud of Mandeville remembered the late Bishop as “a beloved Bishop, a true servant of Christ and shepherd of His people,” highlighting his lifelong dedication to the poor, youth development, and pastoral care.
The tribute emphasised his example of Christian service, noting that he “did not merely preach the Gospel—he lived it,” and pointed to his guiding principle: “Service before self.”
Reflecting on his faith and ministry, the tribute also recalled the scriptural inspiration that shaped his life: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40)
A separate tribute from the Friends of Good Shepherd International traced Bishop McPherson’s journey from his birth in Hall’s Delight, St Andrew, to his conversion to Catholicism at age 24, describing how that experience “shaped everything about the way he would spend the rest of his life.”
It said that those who knew him understood his priesthood was not an office he held but a life he lived. Bishop McPherson was formed at St Michael’s Theological College, ordained a permanent deacon in 1987 and later to the priesthood June 23, 1991. “He went immediately to the poor parishes of Kingston, to St Pius X and St Peter Claver, and stayed for 25 years. He was not passing through. He chose to remain among the struggling, the overlooked, the broken.”
The tribute stated that Bishop McPherson believed, with his whole heart, that this was precisely where Christ could be found, and where a priest therefore belonged.
Appointed Bishop of Montego Bay in 2013 by Pope Francis, Bishop McPherson’s missions stretched across the rugged north-western parishes of Jamaica, many without a resident priest, and he went to them. “Medical care for the sick, food for hungry families, hot meals for those living on the street: these were not programmes to him. They were the Gospel made visible.”
Friends of Good Shepherd International acknowledged Bishop McPherson had “a particular tenderness for sinners.” His years as Archdiocesan Youth Director shaped a generation of young Jamaican Catholics who found in him both a challenge and a friend.
“He knew how to speak to young people not because he softened the demands of the faith, but because he had himself been young and lost and then found. He never forgot what that felt like.”
Bishop McPherson resigned October 2023 and spent his final years “in prayer and simplicity”.
