Saint Sebastian Church reopens
Last Sunday, July 21, in Sri Lanka at Saint Sebastian Church (situated in the Katuwapitiya neighbourhood of Negombo, close the capital of Colombo), Mass was celebrated for the first time in a long time. This comes after three months ago to the day, on Easter Sunday last April 21, a bomb ripped through the inside of the church during Mass.
According to local media (newsfirst.lk) over 1,000 people participated in the reopening of the repaired Church. The surviving families were seated in the front pews.
It should be recalled that on the feast of the Resurrection of our Lord—the most significant day of the year on the Christian calendar—suicide bombers killed 253 people injured over 500 others in six different locations in Sri Lanka. Saint Sebastian’s Church was one of the places targeted by terrorists and 100 people lost their lives.
Inside the church, the parishioners could see a statue representing the risen Jesus, now preserved under protective glass—the statue is covered by the blood of the victims of the bombing. For many Christians, this symbol is not seen as morbid, but instead represents the memory of the deceased who lost their lives because of the hatred expressed against them, solely because they were Christian.
The first Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo. Newsfirst.lk reported that near the end of his homily, the cardinal reminded Christians not to hate Muslims or the people of the Muslim faith, for in his estimation, the attacks were not at all orchestrated by the members of this faith. Rather, by an international group—not named in this article—who used a group of young people for its international conspiracy. He urged people to treat people of the Muslim faith with respect for he feels they should not be held responsible for the attacks.
The images you see in this video were filmed by a team from the Catholic Radio Television Network (CRTN), regular partners of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). CRTN produces among others Where God Weeps—a program broadcast in Canada on Salt and Light TV/ Télé Sel et Lumière—and dozens of documentaries produced by ACN which are also broadcast countrywide in Canada, in English and in French.
