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

The St. Anthony's sacred Church on Kachchativu Island which is located 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 this morning (07^th March 2020), on a successful note. 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. 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 doctors were deployed to ensure the safety of the devotees attending the annual festival. Meanwhile, special arrangements were in place to respond to possible eventualities of COVID-19 which is widespread across the globe as of now.

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 Kankasanthurei and Kurikattuwan jetty by Naval vessels on which naval medical teams stood ready to administer treatment if needed.