Fr.GriffithThe Assisting Priest

The Reverend Fr. Bernard MacFarren Griffith is a Barbadian national who was trained at Codrington College, Barbados. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in Theology from the University of the West Indies and earned the Use of English prize in 1976. Father Griffith was a secondary school teacher by profession, graduated Teacher’s College in 1970 with distinction in Sociology and Science. He was a Probation Officer and a Welfare Officer, played violin in an orchestra and was an organist at a Catholic Church. He was ordained priest in 1976 and serve in the Diocese of Barbados, mainly as Rector of St. Barnabas Church in St. Michael. He has also preached in the Moravian, Methodist, and Pentecostal Churches.

In the United States, Father Bernard served in the Diocese of New York at St. Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church, New Rochelle, and most recently in the Diocese of Southeast Florida. He pursued graduate studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, where he earned a Master’s degree in Systematic Theology. At Fordham University, New York, he did course work towards a PhD. in Contemporary Systematic Theology.

Father Griffith became Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Miami, Florida, in 1994. He has held several positions including being a Trustee of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, past Secretary of Convention and a member of the Cathedral Chapter in Miami. He retired from active ministry in October 2011.

The Assisting Priest and his wife, Nadine, have three adult children.