Derek Goodrich - Anchor Man

When Fr Allan Buik and I first arrived in Guyana April 1986 we were placed in a Cottage beside the Deanery across a very busy road from the magnificent Cathedral. Thus began a friendship with Fr Derek Goodrich that was to last half my life. He used to say I was his only friend to attend his 70th, 80th and 90th birthday celebrations. More than that I was to hear his last confession and preach at his funeral. When I arrived in Guyana 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 Allan to exercise stewardship of a humbler edifice - the Church, Library and mud houses of Yupukari that made up the Alan Knight Training Centre for Amerindian priests in the Rupununi. As we came and went from the interior to Georgetown Derek was our anchor man - confessor, spiritual director and mentor - along with that other great expatriate priest Canon John Dorman. Later on his return to the College of St Barnabas, Lingfield from 2001 he played a key role in the mission partnership of Guyana Diocesan Association which predeceased him. Dean-emeritus Goodrich presented apologies to the special meeting assembled to agree closure three months before his death at 94 on 6 September 2021. 

In his autobiography Derek Goodrich tells the story of 43 years missionary service in the Diocese of Guyana where he served in parochial ministry progressing through the positions of Canon, Rural Dean, Archdeacon, Dean and Vicar-General to be awarded in 1992 Guyana’s Golden Arrow of Achievement. Primarily Derek served as Cathedral Dean be­­tween 1984 and 1993 super­vising the implementation of vital repairs to the allegedly largest wooden build­ing in the world, and the necessary fund-raising. This was the Cathedral which witnessed first hand the emancipation of slavery in 1834. So many slaves flocked into the original Cathedral to thank God for their freedom that a cracking noise was heard from timbers strained by their influx. The legacy of colonial exploitation continues in the ongoing political turmoil of Guyana. Over my own years as parish priest, theological college principal and canon of the Diocese of Guyana I became aware of how the racial strife indicated between PNC and PPP split clergy and parishioners quite alarmingly and how Derek strikingly rose above the divide. I tried to do the same as my main work was with Amerindians, a group distinct racially from the major blocks, with issues of their own concerning exclusion which Derek was able to advise about. Derek modelled pastoral care across races, telling of the day two boys passed his Rectory when he was working in the garden and one of them said ‘Look, white man!’. ‘That’s not white man’ his friend responded, ‘That’s Father’. 

For me working as an anglocatholic in the Diocese of Guyana was home from home. In the Cathedral we had the Angelus, Stations of the Cross, Solemn Evensong and Benediction. The then Dean, Fr Derek Goodrich helped me develop a less partisan approach with an eye to anchoring people in love for Jesus through getting them into scripture. Seeing Jesus lifted up in both 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. Derek lived and taught the good news at the heart of Christianity hidden in the action of the eucharist 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. The Diocese being in catholic tradition was also blessed at one time with nuns as Derek records: ‘The Sisters of the Community of Jesus the Good Shepherd were making a great contribution to the life of the Diocese especially with St. Gabriel's School which gained an outstanding reputation. I cycled to Queens College ground each Monday at 1.30 p.m. under the tropical sun to lead the boys in cricket and football. I also acted as Chaplain to the Sisters for a few months’.

In her history of the Diocese of Guyana, South America Blanche Duke writes: ‘Fr. Derek Hugh Goodrich retired in 1993 after 36 years of mission in Guyana... he always retained the "...vision and drive tempered by humility and empathy which he demonstrated in his continuing role of parish priest - shepherd of his flock, spiritual guide, mentor, leader, teacher, motivator, counsellor and friend". He did outstanding work in the parishes of St. Philip, St. Margaret, St. Sidwell, St. Joseph, All Saints and the Cathedral as well as contributed to the "fostering of vocations to the priesthood". It seemed as if his involvement in the Diocesan Ordination Training Scheme, the Fellowship of Vocation, the Diocesan Commissions on Ministry and on Stewardship complemented his work in the area of the building and restoration of Churches. The renovated Cathedral stands as the acme of his achievements. This monumental task gained him national acclaim and recognition’. When you read Derek’s full autobiography you become aware of how his priesthood has served thousands to good whereas we who soldier on in the Church of England teach but hundreds directly in our post-Christian culture. ‘Just before I retired I did some Maths and reckoned that I baptised over three thousand, presented three thousand eight hundred for Confirmation, married some nine hundred and fifty couples, conducted nine hundred funerals, celebrated Mass on fifteen thousand occasions, and, horror of horrors gave over ten thousand sermons and addresses. How much suffering I have caused!’ 

Dean-emeritus of St George’s Cathedral, Guyana the late Fr Derek Goodrich records many amusing incidents including this from a confirmation class: ‘I was put in my place one day when in response to the question ‘What are the three Orders of the Sacred Ministry?’ I received the reply ‘Stand up, let us pray, be quiet’! Out of the mouths of...!’ Praised for the perfect timing he achieved at a great open-air Solemn Evensong Derek reflects: ‘I have always been a stickler for time, even in an unpunctual society. That I suspect was why the Confession in the West Indies Prayer Book was never transferred to the start of the Mass; otherwise some people would never arrive in time to make their confession!’ His Church Times obituary notes: ‘Derek believed that the Bishop of Guyana should be Guyanese, but was delighted to be invited to become Dean.. after which service he remained in Guyana for an­­other seven years, as Priest-in-Charge of the open-air chapel of St Aloysius. By then, he had taken on two dogs, who moved into his seat whenever he moved out of it during services. He then enjoyed more than 20 years in retirement at the College of St Barnabas, Ling­field, and helped to lead worship for nearly the whole of that period. In 2015, he reflected: “I have been blessed with many great friends at the College. . . I have always re­­garded myself as a parish priest. For me that has been the best job in the world.”

Preaching at Dean-emeritus Goodrich’s funeral at the College of St Barnabas, Lingfield on 30 September 2021 I said ‘Over his long life Derek built thirst for God 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. 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. 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 had been a stalwart. 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… 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’.