NY Caribbean Community Hosts Memorial Service to Honor COVID-19 Victims
NEW YORK, New York – The clergy and other leaders of the Caribbean American Community in New York are on Sunday, hosting a “Candles & Roses” memorial service to honor the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Rev. Gilford T. Monrose, the St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands (USVI)-born president of the Brooklyn Center for Quality Life, the memorial service – scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. (local time), at the Bethesda Healing Center Church in Brooklyn – will “commemorate Caribbean Americans and others who lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To recognize the lives lost to COVID-19, specifically for Caribbean Americans and those in the Caribbean, is an acknowledgment that our lost was tremendous, and the effects of COVID-19 triggered a heavy toll on Caribbean nationals in the Diaspora,” Rev. Monrose, pastor of Mt. Zion Church of Seventh Day, in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Sunday morning.
“Tonight, we wanted to recognize our collective loss and collective pain, and hope for recovery as much as we can,” added Rev. Monrose, who is also directors of Faith-based and Clergy Initiative for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and president of the 67th Police Precinct Clergy Council in Brooklyn, popularly known as the GodSquad.
Monrose, who grew up in St. Thomas, USVI, of St. Lucian parentage, said the memorial sermon will be delivered by United States Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the representative for the largely Caribbean 8th Congressional District, which comprises parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York.
Hakeem is also chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the United States House of Representatives.
Monrose said tributes will be delivered by several people including New York State Attorney General Letitia James; Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants; New York Senator Guyanese-born Roxanne Persaud; New York Assembly Members Jamaican-born Nick Perry and Diana Richardson.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, as well as other federal, state and city elected officials have been invited to attend, Monrose said.
He said the New York City Police Department, the Judiciary and members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) diplomatic corps are also expected to attend.
“This commemoration will be in the form of a gospel concert punctuated by special tributes, prayers and scripture.”
“We hope to inspire and help bring closure and healing to families who lost loved ones to the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic, but were unable to grant them last respects with traditional celebration of life ceremonies because of emergency restrictions,” he said.
