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Feast of St. Anthony’s Church in Katchatheevu Island draws Indian and local crowds
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Pic by Sameera Weerasekera
Thousands of Catholic devotees from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in India took part in the annual feast of St. Anthony’s Church in Katchatheevu Island yesterday. Some 1,920 devotees from Tamil Nadu and over 4,000 locals from various parts of the island participated in the ceremonies.
The festival which saw the two countries’ fisher folk coming together to celebrate, commenced with the hoisting of the flag on the flag pole donated by Indian devotees to the refurnished church. The church, reconstructed by the Sri Lanka Navy, was handed over to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaffna in 2016.
All arrangements for the feast were made by the Sri Lanka Navy, including providing shelter for devotees on the uninhabited island to witness the yearly festival. The High Mass was conducted by the Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin Bernard Gnanapragasam with the participation of Fr. Yameen Powelraj of Verkodu Parish in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. Significantly, the joint mass was held in both Tamil and Sinhala as a significant number of Catholic devotees from Sri Lanka’s South took part in the ceremony after decades. Bishop of Galle Diocese Raymond Wickramasinghe also led the joint mass.
Earlier on Friday, local devotees who arrived at Kurikaaduvan Jetty in Jaffna had complained that there were inadequate ferry facilities to travel to the island. They were stranded in the heat for hours until ferries were dispatched.