CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Politics of the Catholic Church and LTTE

By Darmitha-Kotte

In general terms, it is assumed that places of religious worship are "peace zones" because we are constantly being told by Christian religious leaders that they always stand for peace and harmony among all religions as well as racial groups in this country. While saying this, it is highly ironic that the Bishop of Mannar and the Catholic Church have been pampering LTTE terrorists, attending Pongu Thamil Meetings, permitting storage of weapons within the precincts of the Catholic Church, turning a blind eye while the terrorists planted land mines in the back yards of the Church of Our Lady of Madhu in the fervent hope that our Combined Armed Forces would blunder and cast even one missile by which something in the Madhu Church would be destroyed, using the LTTE terrorists which we could say as aiding and abetting to destabilize the existing socio-religious fabric of this country etc to achieve their hidden agendas to destabilize the current GOSL. Undeterred by these gimmicks, our brave soldiers and Commanders of the Combined Services conducted their attacks on the LTTE terrorists avoiding any harm to the Church of Our Lady of Madhu. They even spent days and weeks "de-mining" what the terrorists had planted in the backyards of the Church before moving forward in their efforts to regain LTTE held territories in the Mannar region and beyond.

Well ahead of the army advancing towards Madhu Church a well planned move by Rev.Father Rayappu Joseph and the Catholic Clergy in the area, conducted the Statue of Our Lady more to the interiors of terrorist held areas without moving it out into Government held territory. However, their plans mis-fired and they are now unable to point a finger to accuse the Armed Forces of damaging their Holy grounds. Unless someone had protection from the LTTE terrorists, no one in his right mind would move further into their territory without trying to get out of it and move to cleared areas. Having done that, the Catholic Clergy tried hard to justify their actions but few were willing to buy it. Christians and Catholics alike from abroad began to protest about the actions of the Bishop of Mannar and finally he had to give up his hidden agenda!

Our soldiers entered the boundaries of Madhu Church to clear the buried land mines which were done with the blessings of the Catholic Clergy and systematically moved forward to destroy terrorists and reclaim lost territory after which, Army officers operating in the area very respectfully brought back the statue of Our Lady of Madhu and handed it back to the Bishop of Mannar but he was not willing to take it back to the Church even though the Madhu Festival is around the corner and thousands of Catholics in this country are planning their annual pilgrimage for the Madhu Feast which falls in August each year.

For thirty years the Catholic Clergy have been pampering the LTTE in the area and accommodating them without complaints and working extremely harmoniously along with them. However when they began to realize that our Armed Forces were skilfully eliminating their "buddies" and moving towards the North, then the Catholic Church began another ruse- demanding that the Madhu areas " be declared a peace zone"- this is ridiculous indeed. Once the terrorists have been pushed back and eliminated, the Armed Forces have no reason to remain in that area and will definitely not wish to be stationed there either for eternity. If the terrorists are eliminated, what is the need for "a peace zone" in an area which has been pampering the terrorists and living with them for so long? What do they have to fear?

It is not easy to concede defeat & even the Catholic Church will not wish to do so given the amount of effort they put, into attempting to make the world see that the Sri Lankan Army damaged their Holy Church which ultimately never happened. Now they fight shy, to humbly conduct the statue of Our Lady of Madhu back to the Church where it was originally without still making some fuss "about safety" which they need not to worry about now that the area is cleared. The Catholic Clergy having failed in their conspiracy is now manipulating Catholic politicians to try and succeed in the attempt to have the area declared a "peace zone". Minister Milroy Fernando states that there is no obstruction now to conduct the statue back to its original place but Bishop Raiyappu Joseph is still shuffling his feat without going ahead and doing it so that Catholics could participate in their annual Feast without hindrance. It seems, now the hindrance is not the LTTE terrorists or The Armed Forces but from the Catholic Clergy in the area?

It is already over 10 days since the statue of Our Lady of Madhu has been handed back to Bishop Raiyappu Joseph and there was ample time for the Catholic Church to prepare for the Feast. Today, they supposedly (the Catholic Bishops of the area) say they have decided not to conduct the Feast this year on the scheduled date. WHY?
-Church politics I guess. Who cares for the yearning Catholic pilgrims who wait for the annual event?

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