Melani Manel Perera

The organization carried out a survey of 395 families. It compiled a list of 16 thousand disappeared, but the numbers are much higher. The report contains a number of suggestions to give economic and psychological support for the relatives of the victims.

The group will also perform a Sinhalese and Tamil dance, and nearly had to leave some members behind over a visa problem. "We started to pray in groups" and finally "we received a miracle".

An Anglican and Roman Catholic Joint Youth Conference is held on “so that they may be one” (Jn, 17-22). Young Catholic and Anglican leaders meet to learn “how to become a true disciple of God” and put it in practice in the future.

The Archdiocese of Colombo calls for broad partition in mass rally on 30 July. Drug abuse is rapidly increasing even among Catholic students. The island nation has about 45,000 heroin users as well as 200,000 cannabis users. It is a transit point for drug trafficking originating in India.

A UN-sponsored international conference on tourism is currently underway in Sri Lanka. Local Catholics, fishermen and activists planned a protest until they were deterred by Sri Lanka’s CID. Critics bemoan the negative impact on the local population, who were not invited to the event. Tourist development “will benefit only big business.”

The book’s author, Wijith Rohan, a Catholic, teaches Western classic culture and Christian culture. His book, which contains 16 articles centred on the country’s political history, was presented by a Buddhist scholar, who stressed its importance for today’s society. “Catholicism,” the latter said, “teaches about the freedom of the oppressed”.

The diocese of Kandy is collecting signatures to petition the government. Human rights advocates held seminars and protest marches. In 2015 the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission received 413 complaints of police violence; so far this year, the number is 53.

Buddhist radicals looted and torched homes in three towns in south-western Sri Lanka. Survivors still live in fear, remembering the violence: a car dealer who lost everything, a grocer who lost his shop, a young man who lost his leg.

The names of the missing are still unknown, by a high ranking official admits that a list exists. In the final stages of the civil war thousands of young Tamil fighters handed in their weapons. Many of them are missing, presumed dead in extra-judicial killings.

Paanama is a Buddhist village in south-eastern Sri Lanka. In 2011, the government decided that certain lands belonged to residents, a decision overturned by a district court. For months, villagers have camped out in protest. This week, they marched and broke a coconut in a Buddhist ritual.

Gnarath Pradeepaya (Lamp of Wisdom) is one of Asia’s oldest papers. Published weekly, it carries news about economics, politics, and social issues as they relate to the Church. Readers like it because it focuses on “human affairs”. Founded in 1866 by a layman, today it is owned by the Archdiocese of Colombo.

Sri Lanka’s largest Catholic movement of renewal in the Holy Spirit organised the event. Thousands of kids visited the three-day exhibit. Copies of the encyclical in the local languages were handed out.