දහ අට වැනි පෝප් බෙනඩික් - අනපේක්ෂිත වේලාවක, පදවියෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්විය. පිරිමි ළමා අපයෝජනවල නියැලෙන හා සමලිංගික කතෝලික පූජකවරුන්ටද, ඔවුන්ව ආරක්ෂාකල කාදිනල්වරුන්ටද ලොව නන්දෙසින් එල්ලවන චෝදනා හමුවේ පුරප්පාඩුව පිරවීමට නව පෝප් වරයෙකු තෝරා ගැනීමට - වතිකානුව සූදනාම් වේ.
එම පත්කිරීම සදහා සුදුසුකම් ලබා සිටින කාදිනල්වරු 117 දෙනා අතරින් එංගලන්තයේ කාදිනල්වරයා එම රැස්වීමට නොයාමට තීරණය කර ඇත. ඇමරිකානු කාදිනල්වරයාට එම රැස්වීමට සහභාගීවීමට සදාචාර අයිතියක් නැති බව එරට කතෝලිකයින් ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නට පටන්ගෙන තිබේ. මේ අතර ඇමෙරිකාවේ ව්‍යාපාරික සගරාවක් වන ෆෝබ්ස් - මීලග පාප් වරයා තේරෙන්නේ මෙම කාදිනල්වරු අතරින බවට අනාවැකියක් පළ කළේය.
එම අනාවැකියේ නම්කර තිබූ කාදිනල්වරු අතර - ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කාදිනල් මැල්කම් රංජිත්ද සිටී. ඒ හා අදාල ප්‍රවෘත්තියට මාධ්‍ය මගින් ලබාදුන් ප්‍රචාරය හැටියට - මීලග පෝප් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙන් බවට නිගමනය කරන්නට බොහෝ ලක්වාසීන් පෙළඹෙන ලදි.
කරුණු කාරණා එසේ තිබියදී - ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කතෝලික සභාවේ කන්‍යා සොහොයුරියන්, පූජකවරුන් ප්‍රමුඛ පිරිසක් විවෘත ලිපියක් ලියමින් - කාදිනල් මැල්කම් රංජිත්ගේ රාජ්‍යපක්ෂ භාවය දැඩි ප්‍රශ්ණ කිරීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ.
ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් පළ කර ඇති ලිපිය මෙසේ පළකරන්නේ එය මානව හිමිකම් අදාල ප්‍රශ්ණයක් බැවිනි.
February 21, 2013
His Eminence Cardinal MalcomRanjith
Archbsihop of Colombo
Your Eminence
An Appeal to the Leaders of the Church to intervene, on behalf of the people that have lost their identity and dignity.
We the members of the believing community, mindful of our obligation to be with the homeless and those denied of their dignity – “created in the image of God”,have been visitingthe Mullikkulam people and listening to their cries ever since the Army and then the Navy occupied their village. Their cry for justice has so far eluded them. The confidence they have had of the church leaders is gradually eroding. It is that sense of betrayal, which has become part of their lives that is hanging in the air and destroying their hope and confidence.
The last visit in December 2012 by the church leader in Sri Lanka and in the person of His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, brought them more disappointment. His presence among his people did not reveal the presence of Christ, whom he represents. Most disappointing aspect has been, his failure to pray and dialogue with the people, as Christ would have done. He, in their eyes, resembled a representative of those in authority, who have subjugated them, than a representative of Christ, who certainly would have listened to their cry. The cry of the people for the land is not simple access; it is for their heritage and history handed down through generations, the houses built by their own hands, loss of land and sea from which they drew their sustenance, proximity to the dead – their dear ones, and most of all closeness to the church, which is seen as lifeline. Scattered all over the District of Mannar and living frugally in the northern part of the country, with the hand-outs given by the generous people, they have been yearning since 2007 for this land of theirs, which is very much part of their identity. Denial of their land is denial of their identity as a people.
We, the Christians who have been contemplating His message for our times, felt that the Church leaders in Colombo and rest of the country must play a more crucial role in representing the cry of the people for justice and identity, and in supporting the Mannar Church leaders in their efforts to support the affected people. They must come forward to impress upon the political authority the following, which has one been publicly articulated by the Bishop of Mannar, His Lordship Rayappu Joseph to the LLRC; “occupation of land by the military must be ‘an act of last resort’ and in each such case, due legal procedures should be followed and alternative lands must be provided in consultation with those who have lost land”. We also feel that compensation for properties and income lost, support for rebuilding houses, infrastructure and necessities to continue with traditional livelihoods (Eg; access to the sea for those engage in fishing and access to irrigation for those engaged in agriculture) should also be provided by the Government. If new lands are agreed on for relocation, it is essential that the villagers are provided with due documentation indicating the basis on which they occupy the land given to them. They must be given proper deeds of ownership of land, equal to land they owned prior to displacement, or, where such is the case, grants or permits to such land.”(http://groundviews.org/2012/08/01/the-struggle-to-go-home-in-post-war-sri-lanka-the-story-of-mullikulam/)
We, therefore call upon the Cardinal and all our Church leaders who claim to represent Christ and the members of the believing community to intervene on behalf of these and many others who face similar situations of denial of their land, hence their identify, so that their identities are reaffirmed and their dignity as children “made in God’sown image” are safeguarded.
Names of the signatories;
Rev. Sr. Kathleen A.C.
Rev. Sr. Barbara A.C.
Rev. Sr. Nicola Emmanuel
Rev. Sr. Mary H.F
Rev. Sr. Regina Anthonipillai
Rev. Sr. Hellen Lambert
Rev. Sr. Eudoxie
Rev. Sr. Yvonne Roche H.F.
Rev. Fr. Jun Sipalay OP
Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando
Rev. Fr. Nandana Manatunga
Rev. Fr. Terence Fernando
Rev. Fr. Jeyabalan Croos
Rev. Fr. E. Sebamalai
Rev. Fr. F. J.Gnanaraj Croos
Rev. Fr. R. Augustine
Rev. Fr. M. G. Arulpragasam
Rev. Fr. E.S.C. Mariathas
Rev. Fr. C. G. Jeya Kumar
Rev. Fr. Elil Rajan SJ
Rev. Bro. Stanley Perera SFO
Dr. Philip Setunga
Mr. Rukshan Fernando
With Copies :
Most Rev. Dr. Marius Peiris , Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo
Most Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Fernando, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo
Most Rev. Dr. Maxwell Silva, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo
Most Rev. Dr. Raymond Wickramasinghe, Bishop of Galle
Most Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna
Most Rev. Dr. Kingsley Swampillai, Bishop of Trinco
Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Ponniah, Bishop of Batticaloa
Most Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando, Bishop of Kandy
Most Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar
Most Rev. Dr. Winston Fernando SSS, Bishop of Badulla
Most Rev. Dr. Valence Mendis, Bishop of Chilaw
Most Rev. Dr. Norbert Andradi OMI, Bishop of Anuradhapura
Most Rev. Dr. Cletus C. Perera OSB, Bishop of Ratnapura
Most Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera, Bishop of Kurunegala
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