PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - A spat has broken out in Trinidad over the appointment of an American as archbishop of the Caribbean nation, with one prominent priest quitting a senior position in protest and another calling it a "slap in the face" to local clergy.
Brooklyn-born Edward Gilbert is due to be installed in office in May. Currently Bishop of Roseau, Dominica, he succeeds Trinidad-born Archbishop Anthony Pantin, who died a year ago in office after holding the post for 32 years.
One well-known grass-roots priest, The Rev. Clyde Harvey, resigned on Wednesday as chairman of the diocesan clergy executive.
Harvey, who works closely with the sick and the poor, said the appointment of an American was an insult to the country and the Caribbean. He called it "a re-colonisation American-style."
He said he would resign as a parish priest when the new Archbishop is installed in office in early May.
Another Catholic priest, the Rev. Martin Sirju, said he did not question Gilbert's integrity but he supported Harvey's stand. "To appoint an American Archbishop to the See of Port of Spain is a slap in the face on several levels," Sirju said in a statement.
About 30 per cent of Trinidad and Tobago's 1.3 million people are Roman Catholics.