The Most Rev. Drexel Wellington Gomez, retired Archbishop and Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, has died at age 88 in his native Bahamas after a long illness. His death on October 14 ends one of the most consequential ministries in the modern history of the Anglican Communion – a life marked equally by pastoral devotion, theological rigor, and a tireless defense of classical Anglican faith amid cultural drift.
Born January 24, 1937, in the Berry Islands, Gomez was educated at Codrington College, Barbados, and St Chad’s College, Durham and ordained deacon in 1959 and priest in 1961. His early ministry was spent in parish and diocesan leadership in The Bahamas, where he became known for his clarity of preaching and commitment to discipline grounded in Scripture.
In 1972, at just 36, he was consecrated Bishop of Barbados — the first Caribbean-born prelate to lead that diocese since its creation in 1824. His two decades there were transformative: he modernized church governance, championed lay participation, and encouraged educational reform in Anglican schools. As lecturer at Codrington College, he mentored a generation of West Indian clergy who would later lead across the Communion.
Gomez was translated in 1996 to the Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and later elected Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies, a post he held until his retirement in 2008. Those years saw him emerge as an international figure, representing the Caribbean at four Lambeth Conferences and chairing the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (IASCER). He became best known globally for his role in authoring The Windsor Report and for chairing the Anglican Covenant Design Group — efforts aimed at preserving doctrinal coherence in a fracturing Communion.
Within conservative Anglican circles, Gomez was regarded as a steadying hand during a period of intense theological upheaval. He co-authored the 2001 primatial report To Mend the Net with Archbishop Maurice Sinclair of the Southern Cone — a document that prefigured later realignment efforts within the Communion. In interviews and writings, he lamented what he termed “aggressive revisionist theology,” criticizing Western provinces for abandoning biblical norms on sexual ethics.
Even his critics acknowledged his consistency: he sought not schism but fidelity. As the global crisis deepened after the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson, Gomez argued that an Anglican Covenant offered the best chance for restoring accountability and communion-wide discipline. His theological perspective influenced both the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans and the emerging GAFCON movement, which regarded his covenantal vision as an early framework for global Anglican reform.
Gomez’s leadership combined administrative skill with pastoral accessibility. His dignified, unhurried manner and precise diction marked him as a quintessential West Indian churchman. Colleagues often spoke of his measured temperament: he listened before pronouncing judgment, and when he did speak, his words carried the weight of conviction shaped by decades in the pulpit and synod.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados described him as a “soft-spoken gentleman” whose voice and demeanor masked deep resilience. Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis hailed him as one of the nation’s “finest sons of the cloth”. Former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis paid tribute to his “central role in shaping the province’s response to doctrinal controversies, particularly on issues of sexuality and church order”.
Even in retirement, Archbishop Gomez remained an engaged ecclesiastical presence, celebrating his 50th episcopal anniversary in 2022 at a pontifical eucharist in Nassau. His legacy endures in the cohesion of the Caribbean Anglican provinces and in the continuing influence of the Anglican Covenant — a testament to his vision of a Communion both catholic in doctrine and conciliar in governance.
He is survived by his wife Carol, four children — Damian, Dennis, Dominic, and Deborah — and eleven grandchildren.
Within the Anglican realignment, Archbishop Drexel Gomez is remembered as a bridge figure: a defender of orthodoxy who sought reconciliation, and a scholar-bishop whose quiet Bahamian grace bore witness to an unshaken faith in the unity of Christ’s Church.