Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith during hisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ appearance before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission had said that the “…Catholic Church had never advocated the LTTE’s position… and the Catholic Church had made several attempts to bring the govt. and the LTTE into the peace process…”
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The truth is that the Catholic Church had its sympathies with the LTTE . The role of the Catholic Church in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka came under greater scrutiny during the 30 yearƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ war. Perceptive observers have publicly accused the Catholic Church of being the invisible hand behind the LTTE’s violent campaign to destroy the unity of Sri Lanka, establish another sovereign state called “Eelam” and in turn reduce the power of the majority Sinhalese and that of the Buddhists. The fact that the militant Tamil organisations including the LTTE and the Christian Peace ActivistsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  who are sympathetic to the LTTE were receiving support from Christian institutions was not a public secret.
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It was a matter of public knowledge that Christian clerics from Western countries had come to Sri Lanka for short visits, to study the ground situation and then write adverse reports heavily tilted in favour of the LTTEƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and damaging the image of the country. Much of the blame in their reportsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  was on the alleged human rights abuses by the security forces with hardly any mention of the planned and pre-meditatedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  acts of inhumanity by the LTTE. It is this policy of blatant one sidedness of pointing the finger only at the Sri Lankan army and the Sinhala Buddhist majorityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and painting Prabhakaran and the LTTE as “freedom fighters” that eroded the credibility of the Catholic Church.
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In the past, during elections the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna had requested all Tamil political parties to cease functioning so that the LTTE could act as the sole representative of the Tamil people. Their position was confirmed by Mr. S. N. Dixit, a former High CommissionerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  for India, who stated in his book ( “Assignment Colombo” P.228) that,” What was fascinating was that the Tamil Catholic clergy kept arguing in favour of the LTTE throughout my tenure in Sri Lanka…”
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For more than two decades, the Catholic Church took the stand that the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka was a conflict between the Sinhala Buddhists and the Tamils and that it is not an issue between the State and the terrorists. The LTTE targeted the Buddhists to gain sympathy and support of the Church. And the Church had never ever condemned such actions by the LTTE. According to neutral observers the policy followed by the Catholic Church actedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as a supporting pillor for the LTTE.