Fr. Antony Jayaranjan, Parish Priest of Delft island, said the inaugural ceremony of the newly built St. Anthony’s Church in Katchatheevu had been scheduled for December 7 to honour Vice-Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Commander of Sri Lankan Navy, who took special interest in building the church.
Stating that the function was an unofficial event, he told The Hindu over phone: “We have organised the opening ceremony to honour and appreciate the Navy commander who is retiring in December. We will invite the Indian fishermen and Sivaganga diocese members when the official function takes place on March 11 and 12, 2017.”
Though the opening ceremony was an unofficial event, the Delft parish had invited A. Natarajan, Consul General of India in Jaffna, to take part in the function on behalf of the Indians.
“We will extend a formal invitation to Sivaganga diocese, which organised the Indian pilgrimage to the islet for the festival to take part in the opening ceremony,” he said. Reacting to this, Fr. L. Sagayaraj, Verkodu Parish Priest, said they had decided to take up the concern of the fishermen with the district administration.
The invitation for the ‘opening and blessing of the newly constructed church’ said Rev. Fr. Justin B. Gnanapragasam would conduct the ‘opening and blessing’ at 9.30 a.m. followed by a holy mass. The function would end at 12 noon after a programme of appreciation, it said.
