Cardinal seeks written assurance from President on church land

April 25, 2013, 9:52 pm 

Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith in the presence of government ministers, Sarath Gunaratne and Nimal Lansa and Western Province Council member, Meril Perera addresses the parishioners, who feared the alleged attempt of acquiring a parish owned land for a tourist resort by a powerful minister in the Western Province.

A section of the parishioners of the St. Joseph Church, Pamunugama, who converged at the church’s Jubilee Hall to seek a written assurance from the President listen to the leader earnestly.Pic by S. K. J. Kurera, Our Pamunugama Correspondent.

By Madura Ranwala and S. K. J. Kurera

Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith had on Tuesday requested a written assurance from President Mahinda Rajapaksa that a land belonging to St. Joseph’s Church, Pamunugama, where a chapel had been built and Holy Mass was being celebrated once a month, as part of catholic devotion, would not be acquired arbitrarily by the government for a tourist resort.

The Cardinal made the request through parliamentarian Sarath Gunaratne, Western Provincial Council Minister Nimal Lanza and WPC member Merril Perera, at a hurriedly arranged meeting attended by them along with parishioners and the media at the Jubilee Hall in the Church premises.

Recalling the history of church, a disappointed yet strong-willed Cardinal said that the plot of land at Sedawatta, bordering the Negombo lagoon and the Hamilton Canal was handed over to the Catholic Church by the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1980.

The Cardinal requested the Catholic MPs and Provincial Council members in the Wattala, Ja-Ela and Negombo to be more vigilant and act wisely to safeguard the rights of the Catholics, despite being vulnerable to political pressure.

Though the MP Gunaratne and WP Minister Lanza promised that the land would not be used for a tourist resort, the Cardinal along with the parishioners and parish priest Fr. Ananda Withana, in one voice, requested that they seek a written assurance from the President.