Neil Sebastian Scantlebury (born 1 October 1965) is an Barbadian Catholic Bishop who has been the head of the Diocese of Bridgetown since 2021. He is the first native Barbadian to occupy the role.

Biography

Scantlebury was born in Barbados to Keith and Myrna Scantlebury, both now deceased. His father was a Catholic deacon. Aside from his native English and Creole, he is fluent in Latin, Spanish, and French. After completing his primary and secondary education in Barbados, Scantlebury attended the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

in Trinidad and Tobago, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduating, Scantlebury then moved to the US Virgin Islands to teach religious education at the Catholic school of St Peter and Paul Cathedral, St Thomas. He then entered priestly formation, and attended Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland. In 1999, he obtained the Master of Art in Sacred Scripture from Mount St. Mary's. On 18 May 1995, Scantlebury was ordained to the priesthood, for the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands. On 28 December 2020, Pope Francis appointed Scantlebury as the new bishop of the Diocese of Bridgetown, succeeding

Charles Jason Gordon Charles Jason Gordon (born 17 March 1959) is a Trinidadian Roman Catholic prelate and the current Metropolitan Archbishop of Port of Spain since his appointment in 2017. He had served prior to this as a parish priest for the locality of Gonzal ...

. Scantlebury was consecrated bishop on 12 June 2021 by Fortunatus Nwachukwu, the apostolic nuncio to the Caribbean region.

, archbishop of Port-of-Spain and

Robert Rivas Robert Rivas O.P. (born 1946) is the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Archdiocese of Castries in St. Lucia. Early life Rivas was born in the village of La Pastora, Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago, on June 7, 1946. He is the son of the late Sab ...

, bishop of Castries, where the co-consecrators. In doing so Scantlebury became the first native Barbadian to head the diocese of Bridgetown.

References

1965 births Living people Barbadian Roman Catholic bishops Bishops appointed by Pope Francis University of the West Indies alumni Mount St. Mary's University alumni {{RC-bio-stub