| International News

Comparing Christ's suffering before his arrest and crucifixion to the situation facing people on this island, the Sinhalese Catholic said: "The cost of living, number of displaced people, killings, abductions, and disappearances continue unabated, and the people are in the dark." He also cited the suffering caused by the December 2004 tsunami.

Rukshan, 45, and his family had come to St. Anne's Shrine in Talawila, 140 kilometers (90 miles) north of Colombo, to celebrate the feast day of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, observed here on the first Sunday of August.

They had come by boat from Colombo archdiocese six days prior to Aug. 5 to take part in prayer services and special Masses leading to the feast day.

While waiting for Mass to begin, Rukshan and a small group of ethnic Tamil friends sat in a hut built for pilgrims and shared their concerns about the country.

The annual celebration draws large crowds, many of the people fisherfolk from the western coastal areas and not all of them Catholics. Crowds have increased in recent years as southerners came here instead of going to the Marian shrine in Madhu, located in a northern war zone, for the feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15. Many people come by boat, taking advantage of the calm seas at this time of the year, since Talawila is located far out the Kalpitiya peninsula, which parallels the mainland coastline.

The search for peace in a country torn by civil war was the theme of the feast-day Mass.

Bishop Devasritha Valence Mendis of Chilaw told worshippers, "We pray for those responsible – from both sides – to come to the negotiating table soon and bring permanent peace to this land."

Bishop Mendis, 49, who became bishop of Chilaw in 2006, is chairman of the National Commission for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Sri Lanka.

"We remember in our prayers those who suffer because of war," he said. About 200 priests concelebrated the Mass with him on the shrine's open portico. "Here there are Sinhalese and Tamils, Catholics, Buddhists and Hindus, but all live as brothers and sisters," he stressed.

Forces of the Sinhalese-led government are again at war with Tamil rebels who launched an armed struggle for an independent homeland in 1983. Fighting that resumed almost two years ago and has escalated since has left a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire in tatters.

After the Mass, the statue of St. Anne, believed by some to have miraculous powers, was carried in procession around the church compound. After prayers and supplications by Catholics, Buddhists and Hindus for peace, the bishop blessed all the devotees.

Priyanga Soisa, 66, a Catholic from Badulla, 130 kilometers (about 80 miles) east of Colombo, spoke with UCA News after the Mass. "For 10 years now I have attended this annual feast and prayed for our country," he said. "We are in urgent need of peace. The Church should do something concrete for peace."

Sunil Aivar, a Hindu, charged that neither warring party has kept the cease-fire agreement. "Now people have lost faith in both parties," he said.

A Buddhist pilgrim, Nimal Ariyasinghe, who has attended the feast several times, told UCA News, "Peace is identified as the fruit of justice, and war is seen as its tragic failure." True peace, he said, is made possible "only through forgiveness and reconciliation."

St. Anne's Church, built in the 18th century, is one of the oldest shrines in Sri Lanka. It celebrated St. Anne's feast for the 245th time this year. In recent years, however, it has also been the scene of protests against a coal power plant being built just 10 kilometers north of the shrine. Work on the plant began in 2006.

Black flags of protest flew during the recent feast day. Church people fear the shrine, and local fishermen and farmers will be adversely affected by pollution and security measures that will be imposed on the power station.