The East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Churches, annoyed at the rowdy behaviour of mourners and flesh-exposing outfits worn to funerals of murder victims, says it will meet at the end of this month to decide how the church should handle burial services.

“Our biggest problem is the indecent behaviour of the crowds that come to community funerals,” said Pastor Milton Gregory, president of the East Jamaica Conference. “They are downright disrespectful and have no fear for God nor man.”

The review decision was apparently sparked by the brazen shooting up by gunmen of several cars, including a hearse, at the March 13 funeral service of Gawayne Linton, a constituent of Finance Minister Omar Davies, at the Hagley Park Seventh-day Adventist church.

Davies was attending the funeral but was not hurt. Neither was any other member of the congregation.

There has been no indication that Davies, who has been a harsh critic of criminal elements in his South St Andrew constituency and those who shield them, was a target.

However, it was the same church at which the pastor, Rev Roy Gordon, had warned at a funeral on February 27 that he would discontinue officiating at memorial services if female mourners continued to dress skimpily and the men imbibed ganja and alcoholic beverages on the premises.

Despite Rev Gordon’s warning, the church had the same problem at the March 13 funeral. “This has passed the limit,” a deacon at the church told the Observer after the shooting. “The church has to resign from having any more funerals like these.”

The issue of the behaviour of mourners first emerged at the February 6 funeral of murdered dancehall personality Gerald “Bogle” Levy.

At that service inside the Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church, the officiating minister was forced to abandon his sermon as he was unable to compete with the wild cheers that greeted the arrival of each local entertainer.

Dancers also performed the latest dancehall moves during musical tributes to Bogle.

According to Pastor Gregory, while the church was aware that it was there to serve communities, it had to take a stand on the issue.

“We have an obligation to the community and we won’t get away from it,” he said. “But if the community cannot work with us, then we have to rethink the way that we handle these funerals.”

Pastor Gregory explained that the meeting will consider screening the persons for whom the funeral service will be held by asking questions such as the circumstances of their death and the community in which they lived.

“We are not going to be dogmatic about this, as there will be some level of freedom,” he said.

Referring to the shooting up of Gawayne Linton’s funeral service, Pastor Gregory said: “It was an unfortunate incident.

It is regrettable that we cannot have a funeral service for the dead without being disturbed. People are people, they are good and bad so we can’t determine what man will do. The whole society is in trouble because some folks are bent on creating disorder.”