St. Anthony’s Feast at Kachchativu Church celebrated on successful note strengthening the mutual cooperation between Sri Lanka and India

The St. Anthony's sacred Church, on Kachchativu Island which locates in close proximity to Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line and owned by Sri Lanka, has long been the pinnacle of reverence of both Indian and Sri Lankan Catholic devotees. Giving precedence to customary rituals, the annual feast of the St. Anthony's Church was celebrated in the morning today (16^th March), on a successful note. This year’s feast marked the third of its kind conducted upon the completion of new church by the Sri Lanka Navy. As usual, Sri Lanka Navy assisted the Bishop of Jaffna and District Secretary-Jaffna for organizing this year’s feast too.

The Feast Mass was conducted in both Tamil and Sinhala languages. The Tamil Mass was conducted by Revd. Father Joshep Lurduraj of India while Sinhala Mass was conducted by Revd. Father Robinson Wijesinghe. The sacred occasion was attended by the Bishop of Jaffna, His Lordship Rt. Revd. Dr. Justin Gnanapragasam, Indian Council General in Jaffna Mr. S. Balachandran, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva, Commander Northern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Meril Wickramasinghe, Senior Naval officers and a large number of Tri Forces and Police personnel. Apart from that, 6,500 Sri Lankan Catholic devotees and about 2100 Indian devotees with Catholic dignitaries including sisters were in attendance.

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. Accordingly, 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 a doctor were deployed to ensure the safety of the devotees attending the annual festival.

Further, religious dignitaries, government officials, VIPs, devotees, local and foreign media personnel, various utensils required for the Mass were safely transferred to Kachchativu islet from KKS and Kurikadduwan jetty by Naval vessels which Naval medical teams were also ready onboard for any needed treatment.