What Authority do Churches Represent?

EDITOR: The degree to which the church organization community has abandoned its role was despicably exhibited on the 22nd of January 2025 at the St. Mary Roman Catholic Church cathedral on the occasion of the funeral service for the distinguished brother and friend, Ormiston “Ken” Boyea.

It could never have been contemplated that we would ever have had the experience in St. Vincent and the Grenadines where the sacred element of a funeral service was so uncouthly polluted to the degree that the eulogy was not respectfully accommodated.

Considering that those responsible for the supervision of the service had had ample time for the proper planning of the important event, the impact of the exhibition of poor planning and indifference has had a very debilitating social impact on the large congregation. They had turned out to demonstrate their appreciation for the contribution that our distinguished son of the soil had endeavoured to make and had had reasonable success in the improvement of our socio-economic well-being.

The Prime Minister’s address in which he gave interesting familial stories could have been shorter as he has many other fora on which he could give those stories. Whenever there are large funerals at the
St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, there are always many persons who cannot be accommodated in the church. They are forced to stand outside the church and support themselves on the wall which protects the St. Joseph’s Anglican Church Yard. At Ken Boyea’s funeral a tent had been set up in the road and seats accommodated a number of persons, including a number of policemen in uniform. But those of us who sat under that tent did not experience the feeling that we were a part or members of the congregation as we were barred by the towering unattractive un-painted walls of the Cathedral.

I believe that if that fantastic building is properly painted it would positively impact the ambience of our capital! We have declared in our constitution, that we are a nation founded in the belief of the supremacy of Jehovah the Creator, so those among us who have declared themselves to be his representatives here on the earth, should assent thWhat Authority do Churches Represent?emselves to the task of guiding of our society, in engendering an ethos of justice and so contribute to societal peace.
They should have confidence in pursuing that role if they accept the counsel from the Bible in the book of Luke, Chap. 18.vs. 7 – certainly then, will not God cause justice to be done for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night while he is patient toward them?

Too often we see at funeral services politicians seem to get special privilege by the church officials, even warm embraces at the podium and are allowed precious time to engage in the spewing out of egotistic trivia which tarnishes the solemnity of the occasion.

That was the thinking that troubled many of us who had gone to pay our respects to Ken Boyea as we heard the eulogy interrupted so rudely. I myself firmly believe, that if those of use who were close to him and strategically placed, positioned, had been maturely disposed to creating a favourable environment, Ken Boyea might well have been with us today assisting in the struggle to protect our precious land from the elements of socially -corrosive-authority.

LeRoy Providence