The JHU, a conservative, predominantly Buddhist political group, is shepherding an anti-conversion bill through the Sri Lanka parliament that many Christians fear will seriously interfere with their charity work.

Thousand of believers, including Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, members of the Ceylon Reformed Church and evangelical groups, joined in worship and song at the city’s main Anglican church, the Cathedral of Christ the Living Savior, on June 25.

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Mullivaikkal Hospital Shelled on 30 May 2009

Twenty-five Sri Lankan Christians, including two Oblate priests, issued a statement that is believed to have prompted the recent release of the report of the UN Secretary General’s panel of experts on the war in Sri Lanka. The group has called for open discussion of what happened in the final months of the war, and the current situation in the north where the majority of Tamils live.

According to their letter:

We believe that it is left to us Sri Lankans to establish and acknowledge the truth, apologize for wrongs done, ensure justice and accountability, and through measures such as reparations, show our care and support towards those who have suffered such as families of those killed and disappeared, those who have been injured during war and due to torture, those who continue to be detained without charges and without due process, those who had been displaced and lost properties etc. It is our contention that truth, justice, accountability together with care and reparation for victims are essential ingredients for progress, development of a post war Sri Lanka, along with a longer term political solution that addresses grievances of Tamil community that led to the birth of the LTTE and full scale war.

But it is our assessment that we have been unable to make significant progress on any of the above fronts within Sri Lanka, particularly in the last two years since the end of the war. The process of LLRC [Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission] had not given us much confidence though we still hope for positive outcomes from the LLRC, particularly the publication of it’s final report, conclusions and recommendations as soon as possible, which would have the potential to serve as a valuable resource for our reconciliation efforts. In this context we believe international assistance can also be crucial in our post war rebuilding and reconciliation efforts. Thus, we find it encouraging that establishment of the truth, apology for wrongs done, justice, accountability and reparation for victims is reflected in the conclusions and recommendations of the panel of experts appointed by the UNSG.

Read the full letter…

Press Release from the Bishop of Mannar (Download PDF)
Letter addressed to the President of Sri Lanka from the Bishop of Jaffna (Download PDF)

In a related story, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Colombo told the BBC Sandeshaya that politicians in the south should get together and offer a political solution to engage in discussions with the Tamil Tigers. Saying he was misquoted by a government spokesman in an earlier news story, the Archbishop clarified that “I clearly said that I do not share the opinion that the war is the solution”.

“We have always advocated for finding a political solution. We have always been against violence from whichever quarter it comes from. So I think, all political parties in the south should get together and offer a political solution paving the way for discussions with the LTTE and other Tamil leaders”. Archbishop Oswald Gomis told the BBC.

Read the full story.

During a visit to Washington DC on May 6th 2008, Fr. Rohan Silva, OMI from Sri Lanka spoke to the Office of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference on the ongoing conflict, the worsening living conditions of people as internal refugees and the need to support the resumption of a peace process. The Church in Sri Lanka is accompanying the people and working to give hope to the people.

At the request of Sri Lankan faith groups and NGOs, international groups are demanding that members of the United Nations oppose the Government of Sri Lanka’s bid for membership on the U.N. Human Rights Council on the basis of the serious and widespread human rights violations by government forces.

View NGO statement to the United Nations opposing Sri Lanka’s membership to U.N. Human Rights Council. [05/07/08]

By Catholic News Service April-21-2008

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS) — A Jaffna diocesan priest active in promoting human rights was killed April 20 by a roadside bomb on the way back to his church after celebrating Mass in a parish substation.

Father Mariampillai Xavier Karunaratnam was driving the car and reportedly died instantly of head wounds in the explosion on a road about 50 miles south of Jaffna, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. The jungle area, known as the Vanni, is under the control of the rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

An unnamed layperson traveling with Father Karunaratnam was critically injured and was taken to a hospital.

A church official at the bishop’s house in Jaffna said the Tamil priest was killed while returning for lunch at Our Lady of Good Health Parish in Vavunikulam, a farming village. He had celebrated Mass at the church in Mankulam, about 7 miles away.

The priest’s body was taken to nearby St. Theresa’s Church in Kilinochchi; thousands flocked to pay their respects. His funeral and burial in Vavunikulam were to be April 22.

Both government forces and the Tamil rebels have denied responsibility for the priest’s death. According to a state report, the Tamil rebels should be held responsible for the killing because it happened in their area of control. The Tamil rebels claim government forces are at fault.

Father Karunaratnam was founder and chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights and offered trauma counseling to war victims and those who suffered after the 2004 tsunami. He looked after cases of displaced people in the Kilinochchi area.

The human rights group handles human rights violations against ethnic Tamils in the north and east, where the ethnic minority community is concentrated.

Born April 12, 1951, in Jaffna, Father Karunaratnam was ordained a priest in 1989. In addition to his work with the human rights group, he chaired an umbrella group for nongovernmental organizations in Jaffna and filed stories for the church-run Radio Veritas.

Speaking from Jaffna by telephone, Father Justin Gnanapragasam, diocesan vicar general, told UCA News the priest’s death is “a great loss to all people and the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.” Father Gnanapragasam spoke on behalf of Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jaffna, who was in Canada on an official visit.

Father Gnanapragasam said the late priest “raised his voice every time there was any (human rights) violation.”

James Singarayar, 67, a retired Catholic teacher, told UCA News Father Karunaratnam was “a guardian and a strength for the victimized.”

A representative of the local Caritas, the Catholic Church’s social services agency, told UCA News by telephone that “people are shocked and are mourning silently.”

However, it is unlikely that priests or religious will be able to attend the funeral, as the only transport route from Jaffna to Kilinochchi is closed, said Father Ainsley Roshan, secretary to the bishop of Jaffna. The route between Kilinochchi and Jaffna has been closed since 2006.

The Tamil rebels launched their struggle for a separate Tamil state against the Sinhalese-led government in 1983. The violence has greatly affected the Jaffna Diocese.

Another diocesan priest, Father Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, disappeared in 2006. The layman who accompanied him, Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas, a father of five, also remains missing.

In the neighboring Diocese of Mannar, Father Nicholapillai Packiaranjith and his driver were killed last year when a land mine exploded next to their car while they were transporting relief supplies.

The political instability, violence, social disintegration and moral decadence at all levels are matters of grave concern to all right-thinking citizens. These are being manifested in the open and gross violation of human rights clearly enshrined in our Constitution, indiscriminate killing of the young and the old, eviction and multiple displacement of innocent civilians, abductions, extortion of money and scant respect for life. We unreservedly condemn these evils as ir-religious, inhuman and ir-rational contravening the noble religious values that we uphold in all our religions.

The international image of Sri Lanka as a religious country is being blatantly tarnished by these events which are now a daily occurrence and on the increase.

While we are in solidarity with all those people of sincerity and goodwill who are working hard to bring about some change in this prevailing situation, we, on behalf of all the Oblate Fathers, Brothers and our associates, earnestly appeal to the political and civil authorities, whose authority has been vested in them by the sovereignty of the people, to bring back social harmony, peace and the rule of law that will ensure safety, security and well-being of all the citizens of our dear motherland.

Fr. Clement Waidyasekera OMI Fr. S. M . Slevaratnam OMI

Provincial Superior, Colombo Provincial Superior, Jaffna