Pastor Paul Wallace who was allegedly killed by a policeman in Auldyar, Westmoreland. - Contributed

Over the years, Jamaicans have been shocked and horrified by hundreds of brazen acts of violence committed by criminal elements in the society.

This sense of callousness and disorder has touched almost every section of the society, not avoiding even the most hallowed of places - the Church.

For centuries, the Church and its leaders have been regarded as sacred, garnering respect from even the coldest of thugs. However, in recent years, numerous religious leaders have been among the thousands of Jamaicans who have been cut down by criminals.

The Sunday Gleaner looks back at some of the most brazen acts of violence committed against the men of the cloth over the last few years.

October 2000: Forty-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Father Howard Rochester, of the St Joseph Catholic Church in Spanish Town, St Catherine, was shot and killed by gunmen in Hartlands, St Catherine.

Reports were that residents of the area, about three miles outside of Spanish Town, found the body of a man on the side of the road after hearing explosions and going to investigate.

The Spanish Town police said members of the church community identified the body as that of Father Rochester. Members of the church had reported the priest missing when he did not return home after leaving the rectory in Spanish Town earlier that day.

May 2001: The tranquility of the rural community of Rectory Drive in Clarendon was shattered in 2001 with the discovery of the bullet-riddled body of a 46-year-old pastor, with his four-year-old son fast asleep on his stomach.

Reports were that Lambert Gordon, who was the pastor of the Church of God, near Rectory Drive, had gone to a convention service in St Elizabeth, accom-panied by his young son.

too fearful

According to the police, about 11 p.m. Sunday, residents heard explosions but were too fearful to venture outside to investigate. About 6:00 the following morning the pastor's body was found with the pocket of his pants turned out.

His body had gunshot wounds to the head and neck. His son, who was not hurt, was found on the blood-soaked, lifeless body.

June 2001: The body of 41-year-old Canadian priest, Martin Royacyres of the St Theresa Catholic Church in Annotto Bay, St Mary, was found outside the church's office by one of the deacons. The body was lying face down in a pool of blood with wounds to the left breast. No motive was established for the murder. However, residents of Annotto Bay opined that the priest was murdered because he stood against indiscipline.

September 2004: The Reverend Kenroy Barrett of the Full Truth Holy Church of Jamaica was found lying dead in the sanctuary of his Waterhouse, St Andrew, church. The police reported that explosions were heard in the area about 6:10 p.m. but they were not contacted until 8:30 p.m. When the cops arrived, they were told that Barrett's body was lying inside the church. A trail of bloodstains led them to the body in the middle of the chapel.

In December 2005, not even divine intervention could save 50-year-old St James pastor, Desmond Rankine, as gunmen sprayed him with bullets as he returned home from church.

Pastor Rankine, of the Irwin Community Church of Nazarine, was killed on his way home from church after delivering the sermon.

Police said at about 10:30 a.m., Rankine left his church in Irwin district.

handguns

On reaching Tucker Avenue, two men armed with handguns stepped out into the road and opened fire on the passing vehicle.

Rankine was hit repeatedly in the upper body. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

May 2006: 57-year-old Winston Morgan, a deacon at a Clarendon-based church, was

fatally shot and Pastor Evelyn Wilson, 53, injured in a brutal attack. Wilson died at hospital.

Morgan and Wilson, both of the Good News Relief Centre, a church in Alligator Pond, were reported to be less than five minutes away from the church when they met in a minor accident.

Morgan told the occupants of the other vehicle that he was going to report the accident to the police. But this angered the men, who immediately turned their guns on the deacon and the pastor.

November 2006: Anglican priest, Father Richard Johnson, was fatally stabbed at the rectory near St Jude's Anglican Church in Stony Hill, St Andrew. Twenty-five-year labourer, Prince Vale, was convicted of his murder.

May 2007: Pastor Egnol Grant, head of the Adventist circuit of churches in Granville, St James, was attacked and shot by gunmen at his upscale Irwindale home. He survived.

June 2007: Pastor Andrew Lawrence of the Bible Teachers International Ministry was found with several stab wounds in his home at Shortwood Drive, Kingston 8.

February 2008: Deacon Peter Salkey, who was also a police corporal, was shot and injured on the compound of the Bethel Town Seventh-day Adventist Church in Westmoreland.

May 2008: Pastor George Simpson of the Mount Carey Baptist Church in St James was hospitalised after he was shot by gunmen at his home in the community.

January 2009: Not even the word of God could change the heart of two men who went to a church in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, robbed a number of persons, gun-butted a pastor and abducted a woman.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com