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Rector’s Visit to Sri Lanka
The Dioceses in this small country come under the Archbishop of Canterbury. These three women were ordained Deacons three and a half years ago and are the first women in the country to be made priests. I was privileged to be invited to attend this exciting ordination and to take part in the ceremony and as the only Anglican priest present from this country, I was pleased to read a greeting from Bishop Bob on behalf of Bishop Michael and to be involved in the ordination itself.
This April I went to Sri Lanka for the first time as part of my sabbatical. My husband's grandfather, the Rev'd David Wood, was one of the first CMS missionaries in Jaffna, and later in Colombo, from 1867 -1898 serving among the Tamils. When I was there I visited the Churches where he served in both Jaffna and Colombo and was invited to either preach or preside in them all. I also visited St John's College, Jaffna where David Wood was also thePrincipal for a time.
The people of Sri Lanka are a delightful people and they have, and are experiencing, great pain. Only 7% of the people are Christian, a few more are Moslems, the Tamils in Jaffna are mostly Hindu and the largest religion outside Jaffna is Buddhism. The Church there is doing a wonderful job among the tsunami victims and are doing what they can for the war victims as well. I visited a state school being rebuilt on the south west coast on land given by the local Buddist priest, which is being supported, amongst other contributions from Australia, in its rebuilding by the schools and Rotary Club in my area of North Devon.
Bishop Duleep of Colombo is very courageously challenging all concerned regarding situation between the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) and the Government forces and we all need to pray for this situation which, by the restrictions on movement and access to Jaffna, is causing displacement of people, separation of friends and families and lack of nourishing food, especially for babies..
Rev'd Sarah Wood
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