Aid to the Church in Need: Sri Lanka: The fast that ended in new hope

Sri Lanka: The fast that ended in new hope

Posted by Press release on 5/2/2009, 7:03 am
Board Administrator

ACN News, Thursday, 5th February 2009 – SRI LANKA

The fast that ended in new hope

• Bishop prays that fast may ‘soften the hearts’ of aggressors
• President listens as Nuncio appeals for conflict to stop
• Charity offers emergency help as humanitarian crisis deepens

By John Pontifex

A BISHOP who refused to eat in an act of solidarity with Sri Lanka’s suffering people has stopped the protest after a high-profile meeting between the president and the country’s top Church diplomat.
Holding a document written by Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jaffna, apostolic nuncio Mario Zenari met Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and called for a cessation of violence and immediate relief aid for thousands of destitute people.
The meeting in the capital, Colombo, on Monday (2nd February) follows increasing concern about a humanitarian crisis centring on the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka where government troops have closed in on rebel forces known as Tamil Tigers who are fighting a last-ditch attempt to stave off defeat.
It follows news this week of a series of attacks which struck a hospital in the village of Puthukkudiyiruppu, killing more than a dozen people.
The village forms part of a 15-square-mile region in the centre of the area of conflict which the government has declared as a safe area accommodating up to 400,000 displaced people.
The bishop has been concerned about security in the ‘safe zone’ where, he reports, up to 500 people – including many women and children – have been injured through shell and artillery fire in the last month alone.
Speaking from the northern peninsula of Jaffna, where his diocese is based, the bishop told Aid to the Church in Need: “We have been contacting the government frequently to ask them to stop the war. We asked them not to use weapons in the ‘safe zone’ area because of the number of people there.”

(Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jaffna, Sri Lanka)

Now after six days of fasting and prayer vigils each lasting five hours or more, the bishop believes President Rajapaksa has at last listened to his concerns and is willing to act.
He said: “Until now, nobody has been willing to listen to us. We decided to start praying and fasting in the hope that this would soften the hearts of those responsible.”
Joining the bishop in the prayer vigils were 600 or more faithful who gathered both at Jaffna Cathedral and nearby churches where the services took place.
The bishop added he was pleased that, when meeting with the nuncio, the president had acknowledged the Church’s concerns about ending the conflict and ensuring the safety of civilians.
Meantime, Aid to the Church in Need, the charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, has dispatched another emergency aid package – this time totalling over $40,000 – to be distributed by Bishop Savundaranayagam.
The bishop explained that the money would help people lacking basic food and shelter across the Jaffna province.
The bishop thanked ACN. He said: “It was very kind of Aid to the Church in Need to come to our help… it comes at such a timely moment and the people who have benefited are just so grateful.”

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

This message is locked.

Responses are not allowed!

Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org