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SL Catholic Church to take first steps seeking canonisation of Easter Sunday attack victims
View(s):- Today marks five years since the attacks that claimed nearly 200 lives
By S. Rubatheesan
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith addressing the media
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church is seeking the canonisation as “Heroes of Faith” of nearly 200 innocent churchgoers who died in the horrific Easter Sunday attacks exactly five years ago today, hoping the move will pave the way for an international probe.
Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said the Church will take the first step to collect signatures from the Catholic community countrywide, especially in the Archdiocese of Colombo, to be sent for Papal recognition.
“They came for Sunday Mass and their celebration of Easter,” he said at a press conference this week, outlining plans to commemorate the attacks that shook the world. “They never expected to be killed and for only their bodies to be taken home. This was a very unfortunate incident and we are now going to declare those who were killed in the churches as ‘Heroes of Faith’.”
“The signatures will be presented to the Holy See, the Holy Father, for recognition of the ‘Heroes of faith’,” he said. According to Church laws, the first step towards the canonisation or the sainthood process can start five years after a person’s death.
Two Catholic churches–St. Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade, and St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, Negombo–and the evangelical Zion Church in Batticaloa were targeted along with three high-end hotels in Colombo. The suicide bombings left 275 people, including 45 foreigners, dead and more than 500 injured.
“This will be in the queue for international appeal,” Cardinal Ranjith said. “Because once we declare them as ‘Heroes of faith’, the international community will come to recognise them more and more and it will become an international matter.” The Church was forced to go to the international community as successive Sri Lankan governments failed to deliver justice and truth, he stressed.
“Those who were in power, both before the attacks and after, had not done anything substantial in order to discover what was behind these attacks,” he continued. “We have been making requests and writing letters to them on and off but sometimes we even have not received an acknowledgement from them. We are sad that these attitudes have been taken by our political leaders. We have lost the trust in the system and, therefore, now we are going to appeal to the Lord for justice for our people.”
Clergy and lay people participating in the march that started yesterday evening from St. Anthony's Church, Kochchikade and will reach St.Sebastian's Church, Katuwapitiya, today morning. Pix by Akila Jayawardena
On October 9 last year, the National Catholic Committee for Justice to Easter Sunday Attack Victims sent a 12-page to President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Signed by the Cardinal, six Bishops and three Presidents Counsels, it urged the President to implement the recommendations by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that probed the attacks and to conduct further investigations into the loopholes that it identified to catch those involved. It received no response.
Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, was summoned before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday about the attacks.
“They wanted to know what information we [Church] are in possession of the attacks, Fr. Fernando told the Sunday Times. “So I provided the letter sent by the Committee to the President, to which we never got a response, to the CID as well. It details the shortcomings and loopholes in the investigations even though many claimed that 90 percent of the probe is concluded.”
The Commission was limited in its powers, which was why it recommended further investigations with regards to various aspects, the priest pointed out. For example, it was not empowered to hear foreign testimonies.”
This year’s commemorative events will be collective prayer services and special masses in the two affected churches, with emphasis on spirituality. “We don’t intend to turn it into political events because we don’t have any trust in politicians up to now,” the Cardinal said.
| Religious marches and remembrance ceremony A religious march started yesterday evening from St. Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade, and will reach St.Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, today morning. The Church has invited members of the diplomatic corps including Apostolic Nuncio in Colombo Archbishop Brian Udaigwe and representatives United Nations (UN) based in Colombo to commemorative events. Religious leaders from other faiths are also scheduled to attend in solidarity. A remembrance ceremony will take place at St. Sebastian’s, Katuwapitiya, presided over by Bishop Maxwell Silva and Bishop J.D. Anthony, Auxillary Bishop of Colombo. In the afternoon, a religious walk will be held from Maris Stella College to St. Sebastian’s Church along the Negombo main road with participation of Bishops, priests and faithful. After a religious prayer, all signatures collected urging the Holy See to declare the victims as “Heroes of Faith” will be handed over to the Cardinal. The Church has requested the public to observe a two-minute silence today morning from 8.45 am, the time the bombs started going off, to the innocent victims of the massacre. SJB and NPP promise justice Opposition parties have come up with proposals promising justice and truth over the attacks, to be implemented if they win at upcoming elections. The main Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has proposed a comprehensive mechanism with a wide range of prosecution powers while the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-led electoral alliance, National Peoples’ Power (NPP), has suggested a fresh probe and prosecution of those already found culpable of failing to prevent attacks. A NPP National Executive Committee delegation presented the proposals to Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith on Thursday at the Archbishop House. The SJB also handed over its proposals recently to the Archibishop House. The SJB has suggested a Special Investigative Commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act No. 17 of 1948 within two months of assuming office. It will comprise between seven to nine members, including two foreign judges, one foreign investigator, two local judges, one local investigator and a President’s Counsel. | |
 NPP delegation at the Archbishop House on Thursday. |
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