St Anthony's Kachchativu feast celebrated

The annual feast of St Anthony’s at Kachchativu was celebrated in a grad scale with the participation of devotees from India as well.

Special arrangements were made to screen devotees coming in from India as well as those from rest of Jaffna and other areas arriving at the  Kachchativu Island which is located in close proximity to Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line and owned by Sri Lanka.

 This year’s feast marked the fourth of its kind conducted upon the completion of new church by the Sri Lanka Navy. As usual, Sri Lanka Navy facilitated the Bishop of Jaffna and District Secretary - Jaffna for organizing this year’s feast too.

The Feast Mass was conducted in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. The Sinhala and English Mass was conducted by Bishop – Diocese of Galle, Rt. Rev. Raymond Wickramasinghe. Meanwhile the Tamil Mass was conducted by Vicar General of Sivagangai Diocese – India, Rev. Joseph Lourdu Raja and Bishop of Jaffna Justin Gnanapragasam.

The sacred occasion was also attended by Indian Council General in Jaffna Mr. Shankar Balachandran, Indian Deputy Council General in Jaffna Mr. M. Krishmamurthy, former Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne (Retd), Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva, Rear Admiral Jayantha De Silva (Retd), Deputy Chief of Staff and Commander Northern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Kapila Samaraweera, Commander Security Force Jaffna, Major General Ruwan Wanigasuriya, District Secretary of Jaffna, Mr. K. Maheshan, senior naval officers, government officials and a large number of Tri Forces and Police personnel. Apart from that, about 10,000 Sri Lankan and Indian Catholic devotees with Catholic dignitaries including sisters were also in attendance at the church mass.

Sri Lanka Navy initiated the process of assistance into annual Kachchativu feast in coordination with the Bishop of Jaffna and District Secretary - Jaffna from first week of last February.

Sri Lanka Navy provided meals and all infrastructure facilities, including electricity, installation of sanitary and drinking water facilities. Temporary jetties were made ready for people to secure their boats conveniently, and special SLN lifesaving teams and a medical team with doctors were deployed to ensure the safety of the devotees attending the annual festival.

Pix by Priyankara Samaraweera