Dr Runcie arrived in Jamaica for a four-day visit. He was very vocal about the reason for his visit, sharing that it was important for the Church to bring about unity.

Published Saturday, March 17, 1984

Runcie arrives, stresses unity

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev and Rt Hon Dr Robert Runcie, sees the role of the Church in the Caribbean today “to create unity which transcends divisions - political divisions,  some of the violent divisions, and some of the divisions between the rich and the poor”.

Internationally, Archbishop Runcie wants  the church community to be a body of people that can transcend political, tribal, cultural ,and other divisions.

The Church, Dr Runcie said, should also be able to speak as one and so increase its effectiveness. Unity in Christ was deeper than difficulties posed by factors such as style and religious perceptions, he said.

Dr Runcie expressed these views yesterday afternoon at a press conference at Church House in Cross Roads, Kingston, a few hours after he landed at the Norman Manley International Airport to begin a four-day stay.

His first visit here is part of a tour of the eight dioceses of the Province of the West Indies.

There were anxious moments for some members of the welcome party. They were delayed by a protest demonstration by truck drivers who blocked the road in front of the Caribbean Cement Company plant at Rockfort with their vehicles.

The Lord Bishop of Jamaica, the Rt Rev Neville deSouza, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston, the Most Rev. Samuel Carter who were airport-bound, were among those caught in a long traffic jam.

After an hour, the police had the road cleared, and members of the party who were unable to meet Dr Runcie at planeside did so in the V.I.P. lounge at the airport.

The President of the Senate, the Hon Oswald Harding, at whose house the archbishop will be staying, and the Rt Rev deSouza, welcomed Dr Runcie as he descended from the twin-engine Cessna aircraft laid on for him by his friend of 40 years standing, Mr John Shearer, businessman from the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Shearer and his wife were members of the archbishop's party. The archbishop had been Mr Shearer's house guest.

Mr Terry Waite, personal assistant to the archbishop, and the Rev John Witheridge, his chaplain, completed the entourage.

Looking stately in his white cassock, the archbishop walked to the V.I.P. lounge, where he engaged in conversation with members of the welcome party and had a cup of coffee before departing for Mr Harding's Jacks Hill home by car.

Spelling out the reasons for his tour, Dr Runcie told the press conference, following a welcome from the Lord Bishop, that apart from meeting with the Anglican community, he wanted to see something of other Christian traditions.

He also wanted to meet with heads of other churches to share information as to what had been happening; to encourage Christian unity; to get an opportunity of seeing something of some national problems; to get “a feel of issues”; and to see societies in which the Church was set.

Additionally, what made his tour “special”, Dr Runcie said, was the fact that he lived in a country that was enriched by the “West Indian ingredient”.

He was “particularly concerned "that some West Indians were finding it difficult to integrate with our church”. It was a matter of concern to him that these West Indians should be able to play a “full part in the life of our nation”.

Dr Runcie answered questions before terminating the session because it was time for his next engagement, a meeting with Anglican church workers and the clergy at St Luke's Church.

The highlight of his visit today will come in the afternoon when the University of the West Indies will confer on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Other dignitaries welcoming him at the airport were: The Rev. C. Evans Bailey, president of the Jamaica Council of Churches; the Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay, the Rt Rev Alfred Reid; the Suffragan Bishop of Mandeville, the Rt Rev William Murray; the Rt. Rev Alvin Stone, Arch-deacon of St Luke's Church, administering the Kingston Region; Mr Martin Reid; and Mr Justice Rowe, chancellor of the diocese.

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