Virgin Islands
Diocesan Press Service. March 23, 1973 [73082]
Jeannie Willis
What irony -- that 80 islands, totaling only 200 square miles of land and surrounded by the limitless waters of the Atlantic and the Caribbean, should suffer from a perpetual water shortage. Drinking water is sometimes rationed -- for the non-tourists -- and occasionally must come by barge from Puerto Rico at exorbitant costs.
No shortage of Churches exists, however, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Moravians all have work in the Islands. Thirty-six of the islands are British-owned, the rest were purchased by the USA in 1917 from Denmark for twenty-five million dollars. Only a few islands are inhabited, or habitable, for that matter. St. Thomas and St. Croix are home to about three-quarters of the 40,000 total population. Tortola, St. John, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke are the only others with 300 or more residents.
The Episcopal Church centers in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas where St. Andrew's and the Cathedral Church of All Saints are located. Three more congregations are on St. Croix, another on St. John. In the British Virgins, churches are in Road Town and Sea Cow Bay on Tortola, and one on Virgin Gorda. This missionary diocese, incidentally, is the only one where the Church in the USA has jurisdiction over British soil.
In 1971, the Diocese of the Virgin Islands held its first election of a bishop by local clergymen and lay deputies. Their choice was the Rev. E. M. Turner, former missionary in Alaska and Puerto Rico. In 1957 he accepted a call to be rector of St. Paul's, Frederiksted on St. Croix, where he served until his election.
While many Islanders migrate to the continental US for employment, increasing numbers of Puerto Ricans have gone to St. Thomas and St. Croix seeking work, and introducing their Spanish language and culture. And a French community, whose ancestors arrived in the 18th century, continues on St. Thomas. So Bishop Turner has quite a cultural composite in his congregations!
(NOTE TO EDITORS: This release was written by Jeannie Willis for Forward Movement Publications for use by the Diocesan Press Service as an attempt to bring home the relevance of Response, the devotional guide in praying for mission, following the Cycle of Prayer for Anglican Use. The press release is based on an item listed in Response for June asking for intercessory prayer.)