Let me greet all of you in the Lord and say Peace be with you.

First of all I wish to thank all of you for the cordial welcome you extended to me as I returned to the Archdiocese after a six year sojourn in Anuradhapura. I do not know whether all of you are equally happy but I am certainly happy not because of any elevation to higher office in the Church but because of the Lord’s invitation to serve Him, perhaps with greater dedication and with a bigger responsibility. Even though I would have preferred the recluse life in the desert the Lord has deigned to call me out. As you all know I do not have the span of a quarter century for the purpose. But,  it is not time that matters but the extent to which we work. After all, Pope John XXIII became Pope at the age of 77 and held office only for 5 years from 1958 to 1963. And that was enough to change both the Church and the world. So it would not be presumptuous on my part if I aspire to change at least a part of the Church in Sri Lanka. And I hope the change would be for the better.

I welcome all of you very cordially to this meeting, and I thank all of you for accepting my invitation to be present here. As the agenda indicates this is not going to be a long meeting but a short one. I trust as much as it is short, it will also be sweet ! The purpose of this meeting is to spell out briefly some of our pastoral priorities, as I feel them to be priorities, and ask your opinion of them, so that we could work together to have them implemented.

At the very outset I would like to tell you that no head of an institution could work alone to achieve his goals. This is why even Our Lord had to choose 12 Apostles to fulfil His mission on earth. And you know the difficulties with that bunch of people – not very different from what we are today. Be that as it may, the essence of the question is that once they accepted the mission of the Lord they were fully committed to it to the extent of sacrificing their lives for the cause. So, in that context I would like to affirm that nothing can be done without the cooperation of every one of you and I am confident that all of you would extend your fullest cooperation towards this common endeavor. Let us remember that this is our diocese.

It is true that I have worked here as a priest for 10 years and as Auxiliary for 28 more years. But that does not qualify me to be the  proprietor of this archdiocese. This is the Church of God and that Church  is the People of God. We are only the trustees who share responsibility by God’s grant, to serve His people. Therefore my dear Fathers let us all unite and work shoulder to shoulder, fully committed to our work, in the different degrees of responsibility entrusted to each one of us.

In a real sense you do not work for me. Like me, you work for the Lord and for His people. Our primary concern should be the people. We have been “chosen from among men and ordained for me in the things that appertain to God.” Therefore our mission comprises essentially those things that appertain to God and not others.

In this common motivation we are brothers in a presbyterium. In the one sacrament of Priestly Ordination we are one in collegiality. In that sense no one is alone in the priesthood no one is alone in the ministry. It is very important that we have that sense of collegiality in the diocese so that we do not become loaners on the one hand, nor  a college within a college on the other. It is important also for us to remember that the Church is not a democracy where majorities rule. It is equally important to note that it is not supposed to be a feudal system where position gives an authority which ends all argument. Mature faith, sound learning, spiritual insight and demonstrated experience of effective leadership in the Christian community, all carry with them a kind of authority, the right to speak and to be heard in the Church. You experience that in your parishes and the institutions in which you serve. You know you have parishioners who surpass you in many ways, yet they accept your authority for what you are. It will be the same in our presbyterium, where I know fully well that many of you surpass me as well.
  
In this regard there are some areas which I would like to address, together which should make each of us, and together in our life come closer to the Gospel ideal which Jesus holds for His Church.

The first: I must presuppose that you all have good intentions in what you say and do. I have become more convinced that not only may some be afraid of episcopal presence and authority, but that you may also be afraid of one another. Trust levels are not only wanting vertically, but also horizontally. Suspecting each other of sinister motives cuts collegiality off at the roots.

I am talking about not judging each other’s motives. We all make mistakes and even sometimes do wrong, and those things need to be evaluated fairly and corrected. If I do something wrong I do not expect you to pretend it to be right. Neither you nor I should be accused of acting maliciously. We should all strive to do our best and with the correct motivation that we do whatever we do for the Lord.

The second: Let us remember that it is our duty to safeguard the good reputation of each other. A good reputation is something vital to be effective in our pastoral ministry. As I shall endeavor to safeguard the good name of everyone of you please endeavor to safeguard the good name of each other as Brothers in Christ.

Undoubtedly there will be complaints about some of you – about you and your priestly performance. But these will be dealt with, with the treatment they deserve. On the other hand if you have any questions for clarification regarding my style or approach, I would like you to talk to me directly for my own benefit and that of all of us. We owe this honesty towards each other for the sake of the ministry and the people we serve.

It is possible for someone or other to feel injured by me, by my predecessors or any other agent of ours in the Church. If this has happened or when this happens please do not hesitate to tell me so that we could rectify the mistake if any. Unhealed, unaddressed resentments can drain the sparkle and the energy out of the work of the Holy Spirit and ultimately hurt the people God sent us so serve. We must not let resentments build up. We must always be compassionate to each other. After all one of the most remarkable lessons of Christ is forgiveness and reconciliation. We as His followers have no other path to tread. Let this be so with out people and above all among us.

I wish to say here that there could be difference of opinion among us. This is inevitable in any human society. They say in Latin “Quot homines tot sententiae” – How many men there are so many opinions there will be. And with us each Sri Lankan will have at least five opinions.  This was so among the Apostles. But difference is not reason for division. Mutual trust and respect for each other flavored by our Christian Charity should motivate us to appreciate those differences and work together as members of one team. In a team – say our Sri Lankan team of which we are all familiar, some are bowlers, some are batsmen, some are clever fielders, one is a wicket-keeper and there is one Captain. It is imperative that all these play their different roles efficiently and effectively. It is equally important that they play their roles being coordinated under the leadership of the captain. You could imagine the chaos if things were otherwise. And it is also evident that that Captain has sometimes to take decisions with which some may not agree. Murali may feel that he should bowl at this time and not Vaas. But one has to decide finally and take responsibility for that decision and that is that. So I believe we have to work the same way, and whether you like it or not I am the Captain by God’s grace and the favor of the Apostolic See ! Having said thus – Let  us all cooperate and work together as a team.

Finally over and above all this dear Fathers permit me to stress something that is of utmost importance in the present context. And that is the rebuilding of the image of the priesthood in  Sri Lanka. You all know that there have been serious transgressions and the image of the priest is not what it was decades ago. I know this is not only a local phenomenon but now something worldwide. But we here are responsible primarily for ourselves and as such we have our own role to play. We being the biggest presbyterium in the Island have a predominant role in this regard. I can assure you now, having had two different viewpoints – one from inside and the other from out, the clergy of the Archdiocese is in heavy focus. They are all looking at us and what we do is bound to have its impact on the other areas of the country. Therefore it is a duty incumbent on us to keep our flag flying as a group of saintly dedicated, hard-working, missionary minded priests.

Thus my dear Fathers, it is very important that we build a good image of our priesthood. Today people have lost much of the respect they had for the priest and the priesthood. They will no longer respect X or Y because he is a priest. They will make their own judgement and respect Fr. X or Fr. Y because he is a good and  holy priest. We ourselves are to a large extent responsible for this degradation. We think that people do not see us when we engage ourselves sometimes in matters clandestine. But the people have a sixth sense to know what we are. It is futile to think otherwise.

When I met the Deacons due to be ordained in three weeks time that there was still time for them to leave if they did not have the correct motivation. I told them that they should not become priests to uplift the social status of their families nor enhance their economic prospects. Rather they should come to serve the Lord with a spirit of total dedication and self- sacrifice imitating the Lord who “gave himself as a ransom for many and came to serve and not to be served.”

Today there is the talk of reviving our priestly culture. You know that the noble standards of almost every profession has declined. This is said of such noble professions as the medical and the judicial. It is sad when they say that the priesthood is not exempted. What the Lord said was “You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Alas, if the salt loses its savour it is good for nothing but to be thrown away to be trodden under foot.” The time has come for us to rebuild our image and bear witness to being true disciples of the Lord. This means that our lifestyle should reflect a certain degree of austerity, poverty and simplicity.

We are priest and out lives should reflect the culture and sanctity of our priesthood and not that of our Mummy and Dad. Our unity and solidarity, our spirituality being men of God, our moral integrity, our life discipline and finally our accountability and professionalism, yes and the very manner in which we speak and behave conducting ourselves in public  should clearly characterize our lives so that “the fragrance of our lives should be the joy of the Church.” (Odor vitae vestrae sit delactamentum ecclesiae as is said at the Ordination.

Among the many congratulatory letters that I received there was the plea to venture to give the archdiocese good and  zealous priests who are above board. I may have the responsibility, but I know this cannot be done alone. This is a work of us all and I am fully confident that  all of you will join in this common endeavor which we owe to ourselves and to the future generations of priests to come.

I do propose to provide whatever possible facilities for the formation and ongoing formation of the priests. It is necessary for us to work out a program for the spiritual support of the priests. This I believe is a dire need in the Church.

It is my intention also to provide more facilities for the intellectual and academic formation of the clergy. The present policy needs to be revised. While appreciating the talents of each one, our training and studies should be in relation to the needs of the diocese and relevant to the ministry. There is no  need for us to train pilots when we do not need airplanes for our ministry.  The Personnel Board will have new directives in this regard.
 
Having talked of equipping ourselves as the Ministers of Christ, I now wish to set before you some subjects which I feel should be the priorities in the pastoral ministry in our diocese.

Among these priorities there are some which are purely ecclesial and others which are tied up with the nation or issues that concern us as a Church in the World. Among those that are ecclesial the first is the need to revamp our whole effort in the field of religious education. This means not only the religious education of children but also, and perhaps primarily, of adults. I feel this is an imperative taking the historical circumstances in which our adult generation of today have gone through in the field of religious education.

There is no doubt that the generation of men and women who did their schooling after the Takeover of Schools in 1960, had two distinct disadvantages. The first is that most of them had their education in government controlled schools and as such did not have the religious atmosphere and the background in school that their parents had, and the other (salva reverentia to all who have been responsible) is the confused and circuitous methodology we have been adopting since Vatican II in religious education. I mean the books and the methods that we have been using. As a result the faith of our adults is weak and they need a strong backup to stabilize and entrench them in their faith.

This has become more evident in the light of the mass exodus from the Catholic Faith to other Christian varieties even, or rather primarily, in the so-called Catholic areas.  Hence I am thinking of two priorities here. The first is the need for a comprehensive yet simple program for extensive adult education and the other ties up with my second priority of the visitation of families.

As you all know from your own experience, the regular visitation of our people is a matter of extreme pastoral need. We should meet our people  as frequently as possible and the more this is done the better. This is one of the mechanics used today by the Fundamentalist groups. As you know this has been always a very effective method of propaganda even in political campaigns. But I know that is more easily said than done. However we have to find a system by which we could do so.

As you see the Fundamentalist groups, do this regularly and persistently. And this is the way how some of our people are lured by them. So while it remains difficult for us priests to visit all our parishioners at the rate of even once in six months, it is not impossible for us to organize our lay groups for this apostolate, keeping of course the proviso that we too would be regularly with one or the other group in the visitation, in order to record our visit to every family at a regular interval. The practical way to do this is to divide a parish into zones and then entrust the zone visitation to a team with a lay leader who could organize the regular visitation. This is an idea I place before you and I invite you to give serious thought to it.

The third pastoral priority that demands our serious concern is school education. I do not believe there is anyone here who does not know the pressing demand for schools. If we could expand the system, with the legal flexibility available at the moment, we should be able to open at least another ten to fifteen schools. And in simple mathematics if each school were to have one thousand children that would accommodate another 10,000 of our Catholic children in primarily Catholic schools.

As a further proposition it is also interesting for us to consider the possibility of extending the services available within the schools presently run by us.  To be very practical - for example some of our Private Schools could well organize some classes for the poor children who need extra tuition in special subjects at a very low fee in the afternoons say from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. This is not something new that I am proposing. Our good old missionaries did this long ago and these schools were called Night Schools. English and a few other subjects were taught in these to adults who had missed formal education due to various reasons. Two cases of schools of this nature I remember were the schools in Moratuwa and Dalugama. I believe (though I am not sure) St. Mary’s Negombo came into being the same way.

So, I very earnestly request of those in charge of these institutions to think seriously in the name of God’s underprivileged. I can elaborate on this but I need not do so right at this time.

As and when we improve our horizon in the field of education, certainly considering it a priority, be able to extend our services to more and more poor children by giving them scholarships partial and full.  This certainly is my greatest ambition. 

Education is a field so wide that we will need to have a team to work on. And I am happy to tell you at this time, that on the very day of my Installation I appointed a Committee with Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe as Chairman to study and implement a School Development Program in the Archdiocese. Among the appointees to this Committee are – Fr. Wickremasinghe, Fr. Ivan Perera, Sr. Nellie Helen, Mr. Mohan Peiris and Shirley Fernando P.C. The latter  two gentlemen are lawyers who will do voluntary work for us and one of them is very qualified both in the field of law and education. Arrangements are being made already to commence a Private School in Bopitiya to be run by the TOR priests and I hope we will be able to commence with the next school year in January.

The simple physical location of a Catholic school beside every church would indicate to us the emphasis our ancestors placed in education. Certainly they reaped a rich harvest by serving both the Church and the country. To this date that service of the Church is deeply appreciated. The tradition of the Church serving in the field of education here in our country for over 150 years is a great asset to us. Even our non-Christian brothers and sisters appreciate the quality of our schools as we see at the rush for entrances to them. This is something that we should not lose by neglect.

The West, both Europe and the United States, are today virtually pagan in spite of the development of high technology. This analysts say is due to their abandonment of education and education  without religion. That experience alone should give us the cue to think of our own future. The life of Our Lord Himself is our example. Jesus was primarily a teacher. He multiplied bread only after His preaching. He cured the sick only on request after His preaching. Therefore while we should not abandon our mission of brotherly concern for the poor and their needs, and address our minds and hearts to issues of social  concern, we should not neglect our priority  of  teaching which comprises in the development of the total human person. And I believe there is much scope for us here to serve the poor and rectify the ills of society.

In the same field our attention should also be drawn to the students who sit the examinations and await results. This is so both with the GCE (OL) students and the GCE (AL) students. This time of theirs could and should be more productively used. Perhaps we could think of some ways and means of being helpful to them and capitalizing on their availability for training in religion rather than leave them fodder for agents of other allurements.

I am happy to tell you that one of our schools (Loyola College in Negombo) has already during this month initiated classes for the AL repeaters - i.e. those who wish to sit the AL a second time but are not permitted in the regular schools. If this program succeeds, we hope to introduce University Courses in the same school and may be God willing have another Aquinas Institute somewhere there in the future. 

Therefore, my dear Fathers, you will agree with me that schools both Government and Private need our highest consideration and you could rest assured that  education will be considered a pastoral priority in our Archdiocese God willing and you cooperating.

There is a fourth pastoral priority which draws our attention. While we think of us priests and the religious our primary concern would be the lay faithful. They are the primary target of our pastoral concern. By this I mean that the lay faithful are our primary concern in the pastoral ministry. But it also implies that we have to muster their support in the very mission we engage in. They are not only to be the passive recipients but also agents of our mission.

With this in view we have to engage in a program of Pastoral Formation of the lay faithful.  This I believe is something vital and needs planning. In this whole effort one of the sad setbacks is the lack of coordination among the various lay apostolic groups. We shall endeavor to study ways and means to see that the work of the laity is better coordinated. Because of the importance of this I propose to have someone who will be responsible at the highest level as Coordinator.

Having underlined these four priorities which would merit our primary consideration I would now like to refer to some other matters that would also be important to us in our mission as a Church in the World.

In this regard a subject to which we should draw attention is this – Evangelization. A Church that does not grow and generate dies. Thank God our married men and women (and some who have not married also) have done the increasing of our numbers. But has there been a positive effort on our part as missionaries. After so many centuries of Christianity even our very hinterland of this archdiocese is not in the way of Christ. Therefore it is time to make ourselves and our lay faithful at least conscious of this. As a practical measure I would like to suggest that we take up seriously, at least as a first step to help some of the mission territories. We have been receiving help both by way of personnel and material assistance help from the elder Churches in the West. But how much have we thought of helping the infant Churches of our own country ?

I now know what those priests really go through compared to us here. Therefore we should get our people who waste so much on unnecessary superfluities during church feasts for instance to make some contribution towards those missions. Naturally, it should be well planned and correctly channeled. For instance some of our rich parishes, as much as they can suddenly wake up after a flood or a cyclone and send some aid and then remain silent for the rest of it, begin to think of those churches-in-need more regularly. A motor vehicle of 39 years is still new there in comparison to the super deluxe of some of their privileged brethren here. Therefore, I believe it would not be a bad idea for us to conscientize our faithful, especially in the richer parishes, to twin with some of those poorer ones and not only help them to some extent possible but also keep regular fraternal contact with them so that they would not feel isolated as a microscopic minority. This way we could vitalize the Christian life of our own too.

The next subject follows from the what I just said. Lip service has been paid consistently and insistently to inculturation and indigenization. Alas we are very much caught up in the web of globalization even in church matters. There was a time in the mid fifties and sixties when we moved positively in the direction of a local art, architecture and other such. But today it is the influence of the West that tends to dominate us. This is very clear if we take just the two items  - the construction of our mission houses and our religious dress. A careful look at our Buddhist brethren will show us that the aawaasaya they build is always consonant with the concept of a religious house. Its architecture goes with the temple. But most of ours do not even tally with the architecture of the church building. These are factors that we have to think of even though I say this is not an immediate priority.

I believe you will pursue the goals of ecumenism and dialogue which we in Sri Lanka consider as being vital components of our mission here. There is no need for me to labor the point. This should comprise an integral part of our mission as spelt out in the documents of the Vatican Council II and he document “Ecclesia in Asia.”.

Another matter to which we should draw our attention is our Media Apostolate. Taking one segment of it  - the Printed Word -  the  publications we undertake would also need review as much as the performance of the two weeklies. I have already formulated certain guidelines for a Media Policy that would make the Catholic journals we publish really Catholic and national.  Besides this all the publications we do with diocesan money need to be assessed vis a vis cost and effect. Therefore before any work is undertaken it would be advisable to see the need of the publication and its overall need. These things too should relate to the ultimate objective of our mission – viz. to spread the Kingdom of Christ.

Besides this there is the essential need for us to train our men for this apostolate. As far as I am aware we do not have any men in training for this apostolate in any of its fields. While paying tribute to those who are presently engaged – I believe we should quickly think of training men for succession in Radio, Television and the Press. Undoubtedly talented lay persons too should come within this ambit of training.

Finally it would be a serious omission if we, gathered as priest and pastors of the largest presbyterium of the Island, forget the importance of the Peace Process that is presently climaxing. We as a Church have been very clear of our stand in this issue. We stand for one country with equal rights for all citizens irrespective of race, religion or caste. And we believe that this could be achieved only through dialogue. For this reason we have always been advocating a Political Solution to the present ethnic conflict. At this moment therefore let us pray for the success of the peace effort and try in every way possible to educate our people to peace.

Now in all these endeavors we cannot forget our very devoted and loyal collaborators the Religious working in this diocese. We should try to enlist their fullest support and cooperation. We could be justly proud that there are several Religious Congregations here in the diocese. It is God’s providence that has made them be, and are here in the archdiocese. They, by their charisma, have the different areas of work. While some of them do what is specific to them within the framework of the diocese, there are others who engage in diocesan operations such as missions, pastoral work, catechetics, education etc.  I certainly look forward to their unstinted cooperation. The beauty of a garden lies in the fact that it has a variety of flowers and a variety of colors in it. May the garden of our archdiocese be so.

Having said all this I now wish now to add some remarks on what all of you are looking forward to. And that is transfers. In brief transfers will be given as usual with the Ordination of the new priests. They have been worked out to the best of our ability to accommodate your wishes. Where there are differences you will in due course be consulted.

I would also announce here that there will be a change of structures in the overall administration, so that the administration would be simpler and also, that I would be able to deal with you more directly, as far as human nature permits. These changes will be announced with the transfers after due consultation.

This in long and short is what I have to say. I would now like to conclude with the words of St. Peter as per the Second Letter of his - “My Brothers, you have been called and chosen; work all the harder to justify it by good deeds. If you do all these things there is no danger that you will ever fall away. In this way you will be granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.” (1: 10-11).

I shall pray for you – Pray for me too that in keeping with my motto I will be successful in “Announcing the works of God”- Annuntiare opera dei.

+Oswald Gomis
Archbishop of Colombo

02nd September 2002