The Rev. Canon Garth Minott has been elected suffragan Bishop of Kingston today at the 151st meeting of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands annual synod. Gathered at the Cathedral St Jago de la Vega on April 19 and 20 in Kingston, Canon Minott – sole candidate on the ballot – received a two thirds majority from the clergy and lay delegates gathered.
On 9 April 2021 the 150th meeting of synod failed to elect Canon Minott after two rounds of voting. The Most Rev. Howard Gregory, Bishop of Jamaica and Archbishop of the West Indies, nominated Canon Minott to succeed the Rt. Rev. Robert Thompson, who retired in 2020. The custom in the diocese has been for the bishop to nominate a single candidate to fill one of the two suffragan sees in the diocese — Kingston and Montego Bay.
In 2021 Canon Minott received the necessary two-thirds vote from the house of laity, but fell short by one vote in reaching the two-thirds mark in the house of clergy. At this year’s meeting of synod, Canon Minott received the necessary votes and secured election.
Canon Minott Minott serves as deputy president, Anglican warden, and lecturer in Christian ethics and pastoral studies at the United Theological College of the West Indies. He was educated at the University of the West Indies where he received a Bachelor of Theology degree in 1991 and at McGill University where he received a Master of Theology degree in 2001, and was ordained a deacon in 1992 and priest in 1993 in Jamaica.
The bishop-elect’s consecration will take place later this year.
