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Archdeacon-Emeritus Stephen Kenneth (SK) Cumberbatch
will
reach another milestone in
his priestly ministry this month when he celebrates his 65th
anniversary as a priest on Friday June 29, the Feast of St.
Peter and St. Paul, Apostles.
A graduate of Codrington College, Barbados, Archdeacon
Cumberbatch who celebrated his 97th birthday on September 18
last year, was made a deacon on August 6, 1941, and
continued serving in Barbados until his ordination to the
priesthood by Bishop G S Hand in Antigua on July 29, 1942.
The archdeacon-emeritus served as a priest in Antigua
and British Honduras (now Belize) from the time of his
ordination until 1948 when he returned home to be rector of
St. Patrick’s, Tobago.
In 1954 he was transferred to Trinidad to be the rector
of St. James-the-Just, Sangre Grande. Four years later he
went to St. Mary’s, Tacarigua, where he was to remain for 10
years until his transfer to St. Paul’s, San Fernando, as the
replacement for Canon Max Farquhar who died on April 16 that
year.
It was while serving in Tacarigua that the Revd Fr.
Cumberbatch was made a canon of the Cathedral Chapter in
1965 along with the Reverends Ernest Silman and Winston
Lamont.
He was appointed Archdeacon of Trinidad and Tobago by
Bishop William James Hughes in 1969 while he was still in
San Fernando. He was the first local archdeacon in the
diocese and succeeded Archdeacon Frederick Robert Banks.
From San Fernando, Archdeacon Cumberbatch’s next move
was to St Crispin’s, Woodbrook, in 1971, followed by Christ
Church, Cascade, in 1977. Bishop Rawle Douglin accorded him
the title of Archdeacon-Emeritus in 1994 in recognition of
his long service to the diocese. He is now the oldest
Anglican priest in the country.
Since his official retirement, he has assisted at the
Holy Trinity Cathedral; St. Matthias, Laventille; the Church
of the Epiphany, Morvant; Christ Church, Cascade; St.
Crispin’s, Woodbrook; and St. Margaret’s, Belmont.
Archdeacon-Emeritus Cumberbatch and his wife Sybil have
three children – Jonathan, David and Christine.
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