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Christmas Message 2007 |
Christmas heralds the
birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. It is traditionally a
time of rejoicing as Jesus the Son of God came in search of us in
order to communicate his unfathomable love and to redeem us from
sin. Prophet Isaiah had foretold the birth of the Redeemer in the
following words: “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a
sign. Behold a young woman is with child and shall bear a son and
shall name him Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.”(Isaiah 7:14).
Further, Isaiah envisions his era to be one of peace and
prosperity: “They shall turn their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not lift up sword
against nation neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)
It is with the hope of lasting peace, that we are celebrating the
feast of Christmas once again. There is no doubt that among all
the worries and anxieties of the people of Sri Lanka today, the
uppermost is the yearning for peace. However, it is also a fact
that, peace in our country is still a distant dream. In the
angelic song heralding the birth of Christ, we hear the words:
“Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of
goodwill.” While we all speak with one voice about the need for
peace, there seems to be the perception, that the military
strategy alone will usher in peace.
With so much violence, killings and cruelty even to children,
there is a sub-culture of death and violence that seems to be
getting entrenched in this beautiful island of ours despite the
religiosity of our people. Whatever divergent perceptions there
may be about the present situation prevailing in our country, one
truth stands out as indispensable: to find a political solution
and usher in peace. As long as human dignity and equality for all
citizens are not guaranteed and as long as there is any
discrimination on the ground of language, ethnicity or religion,
there cannot be unity, peace and harmony in our country. The
Second Vatican Council (1965) said that: “If peace is to be
achieved, the first condition is to remove the causes of
dissension between people.” (Gaudium et Spes 83). Over the past
four decades, our political leaders have made various attempts to
address the burning issues confronting our nation. However, it
saddens us that there has not been any genuine effort to forge a
consensus as regards the ethnic problem in finding a political
solution. We therefore, in the name of God and of our people,
during this sacred season when we celebrate the birth of the
Prince of Peace, plead with all our political leaders to shed all
vested interests and with courage and conviction unit to save our
country from an inevitable disaster.
We all realize that it is a grave injustice to future generations
to leave behind the legacy of disunity, disharmony and a culture
of violence and death. There is still hope for the country, if
there is a determination to place our people and our nation above
all other considerations. We once again reiterate as we have
always done over the past twenty five years, that the armed
conflict alone will never solve our national question. It is only
a negotiated political settlement that will satisfy the legitimate
aspirations of all sectors of our people. This is the need of the
hour. We cannot go on giving into the chauvinism of either an
ethnic, religious or linguistic identity. If we begin to think and
feel as Sri Lankans, cutting across all diversity of our races,
religions and languages and accept one another as brothers and
sisters of one Sri Lankan family, we shall overcome all obstacles
to peace.
This year, we cannot celebrate Christmas with external pageantry
and festivities as there are so many men, women and children who
are suffering in the strife-stricken areas. The Lord Jesus by
opting to come among us in the humble existence of his human birth
directs our attention to those who are suffering, especially the
children in refugee camps without even the security of a home and
basic needs. If we forego all unnecessary expenditure for external
celebrations, we can channel the fruit of such sacrifice for the
well-being of children especially of the dioceses deeply affected
by the crisis of the present situation.
We hasten to urge our people to make this season a time of deep
prayer and sacrifice for our country. There is no doubt that the
Lord will bless us with an inner peace, happiness and hope that is
a real fruit of Christmas, if we celebrate this beautiful event of
the birth of Jesus Christ in manifestations of love and concern
for our suffering brethren. |
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President
Bishop Vianney Fernando |
+ Rt. Rev. Dr. Norbert
M. Andradi OMI
Secretary General |
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Catholic Bishops’
Conference in Sri Lanka Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri Lanka |
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Bishops participate in
the International Peace Summit in Jaffna
The World Council of Religions for Peace based in New York in
partnership with the National Conference of Religions for Peace
and the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka organized an
international conference of world religious leaders on Peace in
Jaffna on 12th December 2007. The President of CBCSL Rt. Rev. Dr.
Vianney Fernando and the Vice-President Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu
Joseph were among the participants. They were joined by Rt. Rev.
Dr. Thomas Savundanayagam, bishop of Jaffna and Rt. Rev. Kumara
Ilangasinghe, the Anglican bishop of Kurunegala. In addition to
the Sri Lankan participants, there were many other religious
dignitaries from Cambodia, Japan, Norway, Pakistan and the USA.
The opening address was delivered by Yasushi Akasi, Special Envoy
of the Japanese government who said that religious leadership in
peace-making is an irreplaceable service. Many priests and
Religious from Jaffna participated. It was held in the Jaffna
Public Library.
At the end of the Conference, they issued a statement which said
that due to the war, Sri Lanka has paid a very high price in the
number of lives lost, economic opportunities foregone and the
shattering of the moral fabric of society. It highlighted the
following points in particular: the urgency of the proposals for a
negotiated political settlement of the national crisis through
devolution of power; the urgent need to arrest the unprecedented
humanitarian crisis that has resulted as a result of the war
situation; an immediate end to extra-judicial killings, abductions
and the unnecessary harassment caused to Tamil civilians in the
war-zone areas; bringing down of the cost of living and the
important role the religious leadership has to play in fostering
reconciliation and bringing an end to the violence in the country.
A special delegation including the two bishops met Mr. Gotabaya
Rajapakse after the meeting to brief him about these concerns of
the conference and later the delegates met a larger group of
religious leaders at the Kadirgamar Foundation Centre, Colombo, to
share the experiences of the conference. |
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CBCSL meets Catholic
Parliamentarians and Ministers
In the course of their November Plenary Meeting at Lankarama, the
last for the current year, CBCSL invited the catholic
parliamentarians for an informal meeting. Of the fourteen invited,
six attended including 2 ministers. Opening the meeting, Bishop
Vianney Fernando, the president observed that one of the reasons
that has prevented laity witnessing to the Gospel and its values
is the fact that many are not aware of the social doctrine of the
Church that teaches the social implications of the Gospel and the
Christian faith which is needed to motivate the laity for their
mission in the secular society. Among the topics discussed were:
the urgent need to forge the peace process; the displacement of
hundreds of Catholics from the island of Mannar as a result of
army presence and the immediate task of seeing to their
rehabilitation and other basic human needs; the important role
catholic politicians have to play in the field of politics;
adverse effects of the registration of Montessori schools where
they are within church and convent premises especially in the
light of a charter on Child-Education adopted by the North Western
Province claiming the right to vest and lease such properties; the
problem of religion teachers for the catholic children in
government schools; the declaration of the Madhu sanctuary and its
precincts as a sacred area and a permanent Peace-Zone; the needs
of the Christian ministry; the nomination of a Catholic to the
Consultative Commission for Education. |
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The Inauguration of
the Catholic National Association of the Laity (CNAL)
This newly formed association to foster the mission of the Church
made up of devoted and committed laity drawn from all the dioceses
known for their experience and competence in various specialized
fields will be inaugurated at Lankarama, the Secretariat of the
Bishops’ Conference on Sunday, 13th January 2008 with an inaugural
mass and its first meeting when the office-bearers would be
elected. Forty lay representatives have been nominated as members.
His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo will be the chief Celebrant at
the Mass. The homily would be preached by Rt. Rev. Dr. Winston
Fernando SSS, Chairman of the National Commission for the Laity
and Rt. Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando, the President of CBCSL, will
preside over the inaugural meeting. Rt. Rev. Dr. Kingsley
Swampillai, Vice-Chairman of the Laity Commission will also grace
the occasion. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI, Asst. Secretary General
of the Bishops’ Conference has been appointed the Moderator of
CNAL. |
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CBCSL holds a
Symposium on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Bishops’ Institute for Orientation Studies (BIOS) held a
symposium at SEDEC on 27th Oct. 2007, on the Compendium of the
Social doctrine of the Church issued by the Pontifical Council for
Justice & Peace published in 2004. Themes of human dignity, legal
aspects pertaining to human rights, nature and role of the family,
the church’s view on economics and politics were highlighted by a
panel of four speakers which included Dr. Jehan Perera, the
well-known peace activist and the Executive Director of the
National Peace Council (NPC). The Church’s commitment to peace in
the context of the prevailing situation in the country came to
prominence in the debate that followed. was one of the speakers.
There were about 50 participants. BIOS organizes bi-annual
symposia, seminars and awareness-sessions on topics that are of
current interest both in the Church and in other fields in an
effort to update and provide on-going education. |
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Tsunami Houses built
by Caritas opened in Trincomalee
His Lordship Bishop Harold Perera, Chairman of the National
Commission for Justice and Peace was chief-guest at the
handing-over ceremony of 76 new houses constructed by Caritas for
beneficiaries at Konesapuri on December 12th. Bishops Kingsley
Swampillai, Norbert Andradi OMI and Winston Fernando SSS also
graced the occassion. In all, this village has received 500
houses. They also visited the area of Mutur considered to be a
highly volatile area due to frequent military operations. They
were able to have a first-hand knowledge of the immense suffering
people are going through in the refugee camps. The occasion also
marked the 3rd year Tsunami commemoration. The Apostolic Nuncio,
His Exc. Most Rev. Mario Zenari had in an earlier ceremony handed
over 27 other newly constructed houses. |
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Annual Dialogue
between CBCSL and CMRS
The Bishops’ Conference met with the conference of the Major
Religious Superiors for a two-day session at “Subhodi” Piliyandala
for their annual dialogue on 29-30 November 2007. Fr. John
Gnanapragasm from Malaysia who is the Asia/Oceania coordinator for
the ALPHA program and his team conducted a three-hour presentation
of this program. Originally launched by the Anglican Church, it is
a series of lessons meant mainly for the adult catechesis of
Catholics and for the deepening of the faith. It has been adapted
and based on official Church teachings such as Vatican II, the
Catholic Catechism etc. On the next day, Bishop Norbert Andradi
OMI made a short presentation of the Vatican document “MUTUAE
RELATIONES” (1978) which helped revisit this declaration. He
spelled out the relation between the bishops and the religious in
the Church to be based on the ecclesiology of communion with the
Holy Spirit as the bond and the unifying factor of all charisms.
The group discussions revealed the importance of witnessing to the
ecclesiology of communion and unity of mission. Both priests and
seminarians must be made aware of the place and role of the
religious in the life of the Church and their needed collaboration
in the pastoral programmes. The bishops were seen as the
coordinators of all pastoral activity.
The prevailing situation of the country was also discussed and
those who had recently been to the North and the East shared their
experiences which related the state of agony and suffering of the
ordinary people and the sad fall-out of the ongoing war in those
parts of the country. The Justice and Peace committees of both
CBCSL and CMRS were entrusted with the task of articulating our
response to the situation.
The Bishops’ Conference felicitated and offered its best wishes to
the new President of CMRS, Fr. S. Maria Anthony SJ and his new
team of office-bearers. |
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Peace Task Force of
CBCSL
The CBCSL has appointed a Peace Task Force whose Chairman is His
Lordship Bishop Thomas Savundranayagam. The other members include
Bishops Harold Perera and Norbert Andradi OMI. They have been able
to meet with Defense officials and initiate dialogues with the JVP
and JHU representatives in order to have the opportunity both to
listen to their views on the on-going conflict and their proposals
for a solution and to share the views of the Catholic Church and
its stand on this national issue. These meetings will be continued
in the future. The task force representatives have also been to
Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee in order to ascertain the situation
on the ground through visits to the refugee camps and meeting
service personnel, civil authorities, priests, religious and lay
people. In the last meeting held on December 13th at SEDEC, Fr.
Damian Fernando, the Director of SEDEC was requested to be the
chief coordinator of peace-work and the idea was mooted to have a
secretariat to organize and monitor the activities. |
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Pope Benedict XVI –
New Encyclical
Pope Benedict XVI has written his second encyclical, this time on
Christian Hope preparing it during his summer vacation and
releasing it on Nov. 30th 2007. His Holiness says that there
cannot be true hope for man without God and the revelation that
appeared in Jesus. Analyzing certain historical phenomena that
held out a promise of hope and freedom, the triumph of reason and
progress in a kingdom created wholly by man like the period of
enlightenment, the fascination of new scientific discoveries,
Marxist revolution and the modern humanistic trends the Pope says:
“The nineteenth century held fast to its faith in progress as the
new form of human hope, and it continued to consider reason and
freedom as the guiding stars to be followed along the path of
hope.” However, all these things leave mankind with false hopes
for: “reason and faith need one another in order to fulfill their
true nature and their mission.” While pointing out some true
aspects of such human achievements He points to Christ as the real
source of true hope. Man who has hope lives in a different manner.
In Christian hope the past becomes meaningful and the future is
drawn into the present. Christianity in dialogue with modernity is
called upon to promote this hope. The Pope invites all Christian
communities to live, experience, proclaim and share this hope in a
world that tends to loose the meaning of human destiny and a
secure hope in a future. Christian hope has to be learned and
exercised in the settings of prayer, in the mystery of suffering
and in divine judgment revealed in the options we make for or
against God; more concretely in the good or evil choices people
make today. Mary is looked upon as the star of hope, who received
God’s word, trusted in it in times good and bad, especially
standing by the cross of Christ accepting to be the mother of the
Church. She rejoiced at the Resurrection of Jesus and became to
the apostles a tower of strength being in solidarity with them in
expectation of the Descent of Holy Spirit at Pentecost. |
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CBCSL
Newsletter Published thrice a year by the Secretariat Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of
Sri Lanka
Lankarama, 19 Balcombe Place, Colombo 08 SRI LANKA
Editor: Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera O.M.I.
Tel: 011-2697062/ 011-2697110
Fax: 011-2699619
website: www.cbcsl.com |
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Editor’s Note: We
are happy to bring back to you the “CBCSL Newsletter” after a
lapse of nearly five years. Intended to be quarterly, it was first
published in October 2002 with Fr. Neil Karunaratne CSSR, the
Asst. Secretary General at that time as editor, as attested to by
the Secretariat archives. In the inaugural issue, the president of
CBCSL of the time, His Grace Archbishop Oswald Gomis had written:
“Lankarama News is more in the nature of an informative bulletin
that keeps one abreast of the developments within the CBCSL and
related to the CBCSL.” The then Secretary General, His Exc.
Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith had written: “The present little
bulletin should be a forum that edifies all of us and motivates us
to be strong in our commitment in God’s love and the salvific
communion of the Trinity.” We seek God’s help and your cooperation
in continuing this useful bulletin in that spirit to keep our
readers informed about what is taking place in the Bishops’
Conference and give an update on important Church news. |
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