Catholic Bishop Christopher Glancy was consecrated in May 2012. He was brought in as an auxiliary Bishop to assist the ailing Bishop Dorick Wright. Wright is suffering from several health complications including Kidney failure. While Bishop Wright is managing his various illnesses, he can't continue his service as Bishop. So another Bishop will now take over. He is Dangriga native Father Lawrence Nicasio. We met him today and he gave us an update on Wright's health and also shared his perspective on the involvement of the Church in state affairs.
Fr. Lawrence Nicasio = Bishop, Diocese Belize City, Belmopan
"I am being appointed the ordinary for the Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan since Bishop Wright is not well and Bishop Glancy remains the auxiliary, hopefully we will work together for the entire Diocese that will be the entire church, Catholic Church in Belize, North, South, East and West."
Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"Could you give us an update on Bishop Wright's health at this point, how is he?"
Bishop Lawrence Nicasio
"Bishop Wright is really a fighter and right now he is doing dialysis and it is amazing how even after dialysis most people will get tired and sleep but he is always ready to chat, he stays strong.
"So Bishop Wright is submitting his resignation because usually he would retire at 75 and Bishop Wright , I believe Bishop wright is 71 , he is going to be 71 so he will receive early retirement."
Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"What is your perspective or your stance in terms of the church being involved with national issues whether it be politics, the economy or education and so forth what is your perspective on that, in terms of the church and those issues?"
Bishop Lawrence Nicasio
"Well the church works along with the state, the government to have the country run well as we call Belize a Christian country so there has to be that relationship between the church and the state and as usual the church stance on issues, if the state does things contrary to the position of the church, other times the Bishop will give a response to whatever it is so as to better the situation and at the same time to help our catholic to live the true teachings of the church."
But apart from those national issues, there are those social issues concerning family and Christian life. Bishop Nicasio told us he will try to reach out to the community through the youth.
Fr. Lawrence Nicasio - Bishop, Diocese Belize City, Belmopan
"Hopefully we will like to work or I would like to work quite a bit with young people. we need to have young people to see the truth, joy and true meaning or reason for living a spiritual life and being a part of the church and also we need to work on families. Whereby the family that gets together with God or prays together stays together as you would say. So those are things that you might say are simple but if family seriously do these things, they will come back to the church. They will come back to the responsibility belonging to a church is not just saying I'm catholic its living that faith and if you are away from your church away from your church family, then you are not truly living that faith. So it's a recommitment. Pope Francis talked about a rekindling that faith that you have in God in your participation in your church."
Bishop Nicasio will be officially installed as Bishop in mid-May.
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