His Lordship Reverend Dr. John Walder Dunlop Holder is the new Archbishop of the Province of the West Indies.
Dr. Holder's election as Archbishop took place at Guyana's new Convention Hall in Georgetown on 10th December, 2009 during a meeting of the Provincial Synod of the Church of the Province of the West Indies.
Archbishop Holder, who originated from Bath Village, St John, Barbados, said he never dreamt of reaching such heights.
"Let's say if ten years ago someone had said to me that you know in ten years you would be Archbishop of the West Indies, I would have told them they were dreaming, but such is life.
Dr. Holder got the nod over Bishop Alfred Reid of Jamaica.
Dr. Holder attended St. John's Elementary Mixed School between 1953 and 1958; and later graduated from the Modern High School. Archbishop Holder later trained for the ordained ministry at Codrington College, Barbados and continued his studies at the University of the South, USA. He completed a PhD at King's College London in 1984. His specialties are in Old Testament hermeneutics and the writings of Second Temple Judaism.
Archbishop Holder previously held the title of Bishop of Barbados, since 2000 after taking up the post from Bishop Dr. Rufus Brome who retired in January, 2000. Archbishop Dr. John Holder was the thirteenth Bishop of Barbados.
The Church in the Province of the West Indies is a member province in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church comprises eight dioceses spread out over much of the West Indies area.
The West Indies became a self-governing province in 1883 because of the Church of England missions in territories that became British colonies. It is made up of two mainland dioceses and six island dioceses, including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands.