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MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE WORK OF THE CLERGY IN MANNAR SRI LANKA

Nandana Manatunga:nandmana@sltnet.lk

A four day workshop on human rights was organized for the clergy in the diocese of Mannar which was facilitated by Rukshan and Sudarshana while I shared my experience of working as a Human Rights activist being in a parish. While the workshop was well attended by the priests, with the bishop present. They were all very friendly and cordial

Rukshan presented the U.N system and documentation of cases while Sudarshana explained the legal background and the implications and remedies at local level. It was a good initiative. I found that the priests were very much interested in Human Rights issues as they face violations of Human Rights of their flock almost daily. As a priest I shared my experience of working with the victims of rape and Torture and discussed the issue of providing security and protection to the victims.

The Madu issue was in the lime light and as a practical exercise, the priests organized a protest rally within a day which was attended by more than 4000 people. Another amazing thing that I found was in spite of the war, one priest is going ahead with the alcoholic anonymous programme, the rehabilitation of alcoholics, and all of the priests do continue with their regular apostolate in spite of so many hardships, which is really inspiring.

On our way back, we had to stop in 16 check points and the last one at Madawachhiya was really tight as we had to get the vehicle checked for an hour, even though it did not cross the boarder.

The ongoing military battles in the north are now threatening the security of one of the country's most sacred religious sites, the Madhu shrine. For more than 400 years the shrine has served the spiritual needs of Sri Lankans from different communities and different parts of the country. For the past two decades the shrine area has also been host to tens of thousands of internally displaced persons. The Madhu shrine is recognized both locally and internationally as a safe haven and a place of refuge to victims of war. The Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, has issued an appeal to the government and LTTE to respect the area as a zone of peace and to ensure that the Madhu shrine remains solely under the Catholic Church in terms of the Madhu church Reservation under the Pilgrimage Ordinance of 1982. However with the fighting escalating in the area the statue of "Our Lady of Madhu" has been shifted to the church at Thevan Peddi.