Bishop Singh remembered

GUYANA

Thursday, September 12 marked the first death anniversary of Bishop Emeritus Ganesh Benedict Singh.
Bishop Singh was the first Guyanese bishop of the Diocese of Georgetown from 1971 until his retirement in 2003. He died Wednesday, September 12, 2018 after a short illness. He was 90 years at the time of death.
The daily newspaper Starbroek News reported that Bishop Singh, who was ordained to the priesthood December 7, 1954 accomplished much during his time in office, having served the Church in many capacities throughout his tenure.
From 1958, and for ten years after, Bishop Singh served the communities along the coastal strip from Malgretout to the Essequibo Islands.
Thereafter, in 1968, he was named the first Guyana-born Chancellor of the Diocese, acting as Vicar General and administering the diocese on a number of occasions during the absence of then Bishop Richard Lester Guilly SJ.
Bishop Singh held the titles of Titular Bishop of Arsenaria and Auxiliary Bishop of Georgetown after being appointed by Pope Paul VI, and then months later, on August 12, 1972, he succeeded Bishop Guilly, a position he held until November 10, 2003, when he retired.
In 1993, Bishop Singh received the Cacique Crown of Honour from the Government of Guyana.
Four days before the anniversary, on September 8, current Bishop Francis Alleyne OSB dedicated and blessed the former St Peter’s RC School in Beterverwagting, a village on the East Coast of the Demerara River located ten miles from Georgetown. It is now called the Bishop Benedict Singh Centre; Bishop Singh once attended the school.
The government returned the school to the Diocese 18 years ago in a dilapidated state, and it took four years for repair work to be completed.