That was 3rd September. Fr Derek died three days later hours after making his confession. He hadn’t the energy to prepare the message he speaks of for family and friends so I thought the sentiments he expressed on my answering machine could act as that farewell. It captures his practical nature - what a wonderful mentor he was to so many - and his faith illustrated in his fearlessness in the face of death.
‘To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children’ Revelation 21:6
Our first reading opens up the inheritance Derek thirsted for. Over his long life he built that thirst among thousands in the dear land of Guyana. He taught people about the God-shaped hole within them, the need to declutter it by repentance and to welcome the Holy Spirit. Living in divine mercy himself, this great priest infected you with the generosity that lives within and around us all. Even that abruptness, which cut you off in full flow to end the meeting or phone call, could be part of this when he spoke across negative or judgmental sentiments. Some things should never be voiced. Derek taught me to look on the best side of people and let their worst aspects be looked after by God who always treats us better than we deserve.
‘Breathe on me breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with thee I will one will, to do and to endure’.
When I arrived in Guyana in 1986 Derek was Dean of St George’s Cathedral where he demonstrated fine stewardship of allegedly the largest wooden building in the world. I had come with Fr Allan Buik to exercise stewardship of a humbler edifice - the Church, Library and mud houses of Yupukari that made up the Alan Knight Training Centre for indigenous priests. Fr Derek was our support - confessor, spiritual director and mentor - along with that other great expatriate priest Canon John Dorman of blessed memory. Last time Derek and I were together here in College was at the Requiem and interment of ashes for Fr Buik. Derek’s ashes will lie fittingly here alongside Allan’s and be a place of pilgrimage for Guyanese.
Earlier this year Fr Derek was an enormous help to me in steering us through the closure of the Guyana Diocesan Association of which he like me and Allan had been stalwarts. Ever practical Derek saw clearer than most when a venture had had its day, had courage to say so and help imagine the best practical way forward within the possibilities of God.
As the oldest resident at the College he played a very full part in shaping arrangements here, especially pastoral care, serving as sub-Warden himself for a season. He was pleased to get to know, albeit briefly, our new Chaplain, Fr Derek, who is presiding priest at this eucharist.
‘Jesus said: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty… all who see the Son and believe in him… have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day” John 6:35, 40
Our Gospel passage captures the meaning and power of the eucharist Derek engaged in daily at College, until recently being regular celebrant here of the sacred mysteries. Seeing Jesus lifted up in word and sacrament was transformative for him. It filled any spiritual emptiness he felt with grace, setting his heart back into a forward looking aspiration also pulling forward those of us privileged to be in his circle. To paraphrase Pascal, there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every one which cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ. This is the good news at the heart of Christianity hidden in the action we are invited into this morning - pleading Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, receiving the bread of his body to give life to our souls and through us to a hungry world.
After his last confession, as Derek indicated gratitude to God for his long life and the gift of faith, among the last words he voiced were those of the Gloria in Excelsis - ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth’. That is our prayer this morning, giving glory to God for a life well lived, praying peace upon Derek in paradise and, with resurrection faith, invoking the Holy Spirit upon ourselves and upon this troubled world:
‘Breathe on me breath of God, so shall I never die but live with thee the perfect life fo thine eternity’.
TRIBUTE BY THE REV’D CANON ATMA BUDHU
Good morning my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am honoured to be delivering this tribute today, honouring the life and ministry of The Rev’d Fr. Dereck Goodrich, a good and faithful servant of God, someone I had known for the greater part of my life.
On behalf of my wife Lavinia, our children Stephen and Gail and their spouses, I extend sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family and to the residents and staff of the College of St. Barnabas, U.K., where Fr. Goodrich spent the final 20 years of his life. I also acknowledge, with gratitude, the presence of many of Fr. Goodrich’s former parishioners and friends from Guyana and across the globe, who have joined this service via zoom and other social media platforms. We give Almighty God thanks for his life and ministry which touched ours in amazing and transformative ways.
When I reflect on my nearly 40 years in the ordained ministry, I see the footprints of Fr. Goodrich at important stages of my journey. I was not always a Christian. I was born and raised in a Hindu family and at the age of 17, I was invited to and later that year became a baptized member of St. Joseph’s Church, Port Mourant in the County of Berbice, Guyana. Fr. Goodrich was the Vicar of St. Joseph’s Church between 1967-1971, immediately preceding Fr. Sydney Thomas, now also in Blessed Memory, who was Vicar when I joined St. Joseph’s Church in 1975. Fr. Goodrich became Vicar of All Saints’, New Amsterdam after leaving St. Joseph’s Parish in 1971.
At the age of 17, on 29th November, 1975, Fr. Goodrich presented me for confirmation at All Saints Church on behalf of Fr. Sydney Thomas. Early 1980, he interviewed me on behalf of the Fellowship of Vocation and subsequently recommended that my application to test my vocation at Codrington Theological College, Barbados, be accepted. It was, and in September, 1980 I began theological studies at Codrington College. In June of 1984, having completed Theological education and was ordained Deacon in Barbados, I was appointed Assistant Curate of St. George’s Cathedral where Fr. Goodrich was Dean of Georgetown and Vicar. It was during my 2 year stint at St. George’s Cathedral, working with and observing Fr. Goodrich, that my priestly formation took place more meaningfully and permanently. I am the priest I am today because I encountered him in the vineyard of the Lord at St. George’s Cathedral. To this day I celebrate the Holy Eucharist the way he did and his insistence on careful prior preparation, punctuality and the maintenance of the holiness of the worship space, have become my passion.
At St. George’s we shared a ministry of consistent, parish-wide visitation of members in their homes, sick visitations at homes and hospitals and the faithful observance of the Church’s liturgical calendar. From Fr. Goodrich I have learnt the importance of taking the Church to the community with out-door processions of witness, out-door stations of the cross during Lent and Christmas caroling in the inner-city communities. He also opened the doors of the Cathedral for the community to enjoy organ recitals and to listen to Lectures on topics of interest at lunchtime. Fr. Goodrich spent most of his 9 years at the Cathedral executing the most extensive and expensive renovations of the tallest wooden building in the world. The formation of the “Friends of St. George’s” proved to be the master stroke on his part, raising much needed funds to finance the project.
I don’t believe there was a part of the city of Georgetown that Fr. Goodrich did not know, even the most impoverished areas and parts considered dangerous, for example, Tiger Bay. He was known as the priest on two wheels. He rode a motorcycle for most of his ministry in Guyana. I began my ministry with him on a bicycle, then he got me a motorcycle, thanks to GDA, and together we crisscrossed Georgetown, visiting hundreds of homes while clocking in thousands of miles on our motorcycles. As we say in the West Indies, “those were the days”.
In 1985, while still his assistant, he prepared my wife and I for marriage and was present at the ceremony on the 30th November, 1985 at St. Patrick’s Church, Canje, Berbice. One year later he baptized our son Stephen and graciously agreed to be Stephen’s godfather. In March 1987, Bishop Randolph George, now also in Blessed Memory, appointed me Vicar of St. Sidwell’s Church, Lodge where Fr. Goodrich was Vicar from 1957 - 1967, a Church he built after the first building was destroyed by fire. He took great interest in my work at St. Sidwell and often, graciously offered words of encouragement. Working with Fr. Goodrich was like watching a master craftsman at work. We never had formal meeting times to discuss church polity and priest craft. I believe he wanted me to watch and learn. And that is what I did. I am the priest and the man I am today because I watched and keenly observed a humble parish priest doing the Lord’s work with so much love, commitment, and dedication that the fragrance of his life descended and remained on me.
St. Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ”. For me to have known Fr. Goodrich was to experience Christ-likeness that is so compelling and transformative. Fr. Goodrich, for many of us who knew him, put a face on Jesus. That to me will be his lasting legacy. I close with these words, the author unknown, spoken at a farewell service of a faithful pastor and priest who was leaving a particular parish: “For me, t’was not the things you taught, to you so clear, to me so dim. But when you came, you brought a sense of Him. And through your eyes He beckoned me, and through your heart His love was shed. Till I lost sight of you and saw the Christ instead.”
Rest in peace Fr. Goodrich, my mentor, my father in God, my friend, my colleague, my brother. Thank you, good and faithful servant. May your rest this day, be in the paradise of God. Amen.
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