An unholy row has broken out after a family claimed a Baptist church refused to conduct a congregation member's funeral service because he was a Freemason – a claim the church totally rejects.
The family of Falmouth man Leonard Richard Cole arranged the funeral service at the Emmanuel Baptist Church following his death on August 12 this year aged 88 – and put a notice in the Packet.
Mr Cole had been a member of the church for 69 years and the family itself had joined the congregation in 1894. There are even members of his family in the photos of the laying of the Foundation Stone of the current site in Western Terrace in 1939.
The daughter of Mr Cole, Sallyann Beattie, said she spoke with the church and booked the funeral service for Friday, September 15 at 1pm.
However, she claims on August 22 they received a call from the church saying that the elders and the new vicar Rev Darren Bovis-Coulter had had a meeting and decided the service could not go ahead because their father was a freemason.
She says she was read out a prepared statement from the minister and elders stating that due to their father’s membership of the Freemasons then they would not permit him to have his funeral service conducted at Emmanuel Baptist Church, as it is against their beliefs.
“I have to say that I was extremely upset and I was crying, and asked her why, after all our father had done for the church, they were denying him his planned funeral, his last wishes,” she said.
She said despite trying to contact the church to discuss it further they heard nothing.
However, Mr Cole’s son says two hours before the rearranged funeral service was due to take place, he received a phone call from the Rev Bovis-Coulter.
In it, he claims, Rev Bovis-Coulter preached about the evils of freemasonry until they put the phone down on him as they “couldn’t get a word in”. Rev Bovis Coulter denied that they discussed freemasonry and said it was all a simple misunderstanding.
He said he did speak to the family to try and sort the situation out, but that the family put the phone down on him.
He said it had all been a mix-up and had been due to logistics and staffing problems NOT due to Mr Cole being a freemason.
He said the family had wanted retired vicar Charles Blizzard to conduct the funeral but he had not been available on the date they wanted.
He told the Packet that this was a family in pain that needed love. “The family contacted Charles asking him to do it and he said he would,” he told the Packet.
“The family chose a date but Charles couldn’t do that particular date,” he said. He said the family were offered a date on the following day but it wasn’t acceptable.
“As a church we want to love this family as they are part of the congregation,” he said. “They said they couldn’t change it to the next day. We said they could have the funeral but couldn’t have Charles. I offered them another minister as I wasn’t available to do that date.”
He said he was going to offer the church back room after the funeral, to meet up with people from the church, but the family were so upset he didn’t get to the chance to offer this.
“A lot of people in church knew Len, but there was no good reason why they couldn’t have the funeral in the church other than date was wrong for them,” he said.
“I am upset on behalf of the family; very sad it has got this far.”
A statement from the Emanuel Baptist Church to the Packet said: “Emmanuel Baptist Church are aware there has been some disquiet regarding the funeral of Leonard Coles being held at the church. “The reason the funeral was not held at EBC was because it was not possible to find a suitable date which would enable the previous minister of Emmanuel Baptist Church to conduct the funeral.
“Understandably the family wanted someone who knew Len to take the funeral and Charles Blizzard was not available on the date requested.
“Emmanuel Baptist Church are committed to supporting the community of Falmouth and we are praying for the family of Len Coles in their time of loss.”
Mr Cole’s association with Emmanuel Baptist Church started with his marriage to Bernice Beattie in 1954. He founded 9th Falmouth Baptist Scout Troop in 1955 later amalgamating with 8th Falmouth Methodist.
He served as Skip Cole for 40 years and was Baptised in 1970.
The family says he gave his time to the church in countless ways, mowing lawns, doing repairs, setting up garden fetes, doing video recordings of church events, helping run the youth group, donating money and tools and film and video equipment to the church and its members.
They said he had been a Freemason since 1972 and his integrity and commitment as a Christian was never questioned by anyone in the church.
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