Bermuda's Roman Catholics have a new Archbishop and local clergy say that this recent change will mean "better pastoral care for members of the community''.

The Reverend Lawrence Burke was appointed to his new post in Nassau, Bahamas last week after Pope John Paul II created the new diocese linking those islands with Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The ceremony to celebrate his appointment was attended by 20 bishops from the Caribbean, Central America and the US.

Previously, Bermuda was part of the same religious province as Kingston, Jamaica and Belize.

The Island remains part of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, however.

Local Bishop Robert Kurtz said he felt this change would mean a "rewarding'' relationship could be formed between Bermuda and its new diocese partners.

"We have a lot in common with especially the Bahamas, seeing as we both have tourism and international businesses as our key industries. And while we have a large Portuguese community here, they have quite a large Haitian community.'' He said: "Hopefully, some time in the near future the new Archbishop will pay a visit to Bermuda. Then we'll be able to sit down and wok out some common policies in regards to where to take our congregations in the future.'' Rev. Kurtz hoped that they would be able to concentrate more on pastoral concerns than on dealing with legalities. "We want to really focus on dealing with the people in our congregation rather than spending so much time worrying about administration details and bureaucracy.'' He added: "I would be delighted if we could have some visiting priests from the Bahamas. There are many more black clergy down there and I think it would be nice for some of our black congregation to hear what they have to say.'' Rev. Kurtz also explained that the new Archbishop had hinted at wanting to take a look at Bermuda's Roman Catholic Youth Ministry which, apparently, is considered by many to be the best in this part of the world.