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| [ By Fr. Sunil De Silva - 09.08.2008 ] |
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His Lordship Bishop Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannar, brought the Sacred Statue of Our Lady of Madhu to the Madhu Shrine today in the evening, 09th August 2008. |
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Due to heavy exchange of artillery around the Madhu Shrine, His Lordship Bishop Rayappu Joseph gave the instructions to the Administrator of the Madhu Shrine Very Rev. Fr. Emiliaspillai to take the Statue of Our Lady of Madhu to a safer location.
Then the Statue of Madhu was taken to Theavanpiddi Church on 03rd April 2008. |
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Taking into consideration the security concerns of the Thevanpiddi and Vellankulam areas, His Lordship Bishop Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannar has brought the sacred Statue of Madhu to the Bishop's House Chapel, Mannar, today 22nd July 2008. |
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| [ Fr. Sunil De Silva - 07.08.2008 ] |
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In a Press Release issued by His Lordship Bishop Rayappu and the Vicar General of the Diocese of Mannar Ver Rev. Fr. Victor Soosai, on 07th August 2008, says that the Statue of Our Lady of Madhu will be taken to the Shrine very soon, but will not have the traditional Madhu Festival in this year due to the failure of the government and the LTTE failing to respond to the requests made by them. |
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His Lordship Bishop Rayappu Joseph appealed to both the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Security Forces to keep away from the Madhu Shrine area and not to engage in military activities in the Sacred area and also His Lordship appealed to the President of Sri Lanka to declare the Madhu Shrine area as " a ZONE OF PEACE ", which all the Madhu pilgrims in Sri Lanka are still waiting to hear. |
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| Government has not yet declared the Madhu Shrine premises as a " ZONE OF PEACE " and the LTTE has not yet responed to His Lordship that they will not enter the Madhu Shrine premises to get involved in any military activities. |
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The Vicar General, Very Rev. Fr. Victor Soosai said that on 06th August 2008, the Adminitrator of the Madhu Shrine Rev. Fr.Emiliyanus Pillai, Rev. Fr. Beno Alexander, six Rev. Brothers and two staff members have gone to the Madhu Shrine to reside. |
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Regarding the present situation at Madhu and the August Madhu festival, we wish to inform the faithful and devotees of Our Lady of Madhu that the Sacred Statue of Our Lady of Madhu will be taken to its original place of Madhu Church and enthroned after due penitential and purification service. Since the Administrator will be residing at Madhu daily Eucharist service will take place at Madhu.
However we very much regret to inform the faithful and the devotees that we are not in a position to have the traditional August festival this time with the usual solemnities due to the following reasons:
01. Although the repairs to the Church have been done, some of the essential requirements
and infrastructure facilities are yet to be attended to in order to provide basic spiritual
and material facilities to a large number of pilgrims that customarily attend the August
Festival. Our Church staff took charge of Madhu only yesterday the 6th August, after 4
months of absence and we need time to bring back normalcy to Madhu.
02. The necessary requirements for making Madhu as a "No Conflict Zone" and the conditions mentioned in the appeal by the Bishop of Mannar and the CBCSL in order to guarantee the safety of the pilgrims, have not yet been properly agreed to either by the Government or by the LITE.
We do not expect therefore, pilgrims this time at Madhu and much less a many of them. We appeal to the people to continue to pray to Our Lady of Madhu for lasting peace in our county, so that through her intercession our people may be relieved from the sufferings and the challenges they face. |
signed by
+Bishop Rayappu Joseph
Bishop of Mannar
07.08.2008 |
Very Rev. Fr. Victor Soosai
Vicar General
Diocese of Mannar |
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