Is Pope visiting Sri Lanka to apologise for Crimes of the Portuguese and Catholic Church?
Posted on May 28th, 2014
Shenali D Waduge
An Apology to Sri Lanka for crimes against humanity committed by the Portuguese Conquistadors who were exclusively Roman Catholics, during their presence in this country from 1505 – 1658, should be the overriding reason for any future visit by a Pope. It is an apology long overdue to Sri Lanka as well as to several other countries in Asia for similar mass murders and other wrongs committed by the Portuguese. It is a shameful chapter that no amount of dodgy interpretation can erase.
Pope John Paul II has gone down in history for making a string of apologies. He apologized to the Jews, Galileo, women, Europeans unfairly convicted and / or brutally executed by the Inquisition, Muslims killed by the Crusades and ALMOST everyone who had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church. The key word ‘ALMOST’ is important for these apologies included an apology to China for the role of missionaries during the colonial period. Nevertheless, key continents have been left out. While the Pope did apologize for the slave trade in Africa, the Pope has not included in the apology the lists of other crimes the Church had been involved in. The apology to China has not extended to the rest of Asia where the crimes of the Church are many e.g. Goa Inquisition. Therefore, as Sri Lankan Catholic clergy make preparations for the Pope to arrive in Sri Lanka, they would well do to convey to the Pope that the Buddhists, the Hindus and the Muslims are awaiting an apology from the Vatican for the Portuguese Inquisition conducted in Sri Lanka, and genocidal crimes committed including the total destruction of the places of worship of non – Christians and absolute prohibition imposed on them from practicing their faiths, by the Portuguese.
Vatican – a Sovereign State
The Pope is in addition to being the head of the largest religion organization in the world i.e. Roman Catholic Church, also the head of a sovereign government i.e. Vatican, and represents a religion that bases its existence on world domination and had called its clergy to harvest souls in Asia as its mission for the 3rd millennium.
The Pope is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka, a victim of both the Portuguese and the Catholic Church. The Pope’s visit to Sri Lanka cannot override his duty to atone for the injustices and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese Conquistadors with the Catholic Church as accomplices and beneficiaries both directly and indirectly from such crimes. ‘
It is not only the Sinhala Buddhists, but Tamil Hindus and Muslims too suffered at the hands of the Portuguese who did not lose any opportunity to destroy all non – Christian places of worship situated in areas under Portuguese control and wherever possible built Catholic Churches on top or adjacent to such destroyed sites. These accounts in our local historical chronicles are corroborated by the writings of the Portuguese historians themselves e.g. Fernao de Queiros, Friar Paulo da Trinidade among others.
King Senerath saved the Muslims
Had King Senerath (ruler of the Kandyan Kingdom) not come to the rescue of the local Muslims in 1626 by offering them a sanctuary in the Eastern Province, what may have happened to the local Muslims due to the intense persecution by the Portuguese under Captain – General Constantino De Sa de Noronha, is anyone’s guess. It was in 1626 that on the orders of King Philip of Portugal that Constantino De Sa expelled the Moors, who were seen as the inveterate enemies of the Portuguese; a large number of Muslims were settled by the Kandyan Court in the neighbourhood of Batticaloa, where their descendants are still to be found.
List of Apologies made by Christians
- The conquest of Mesoamerica by Spain in the name of the Church
- 1965 : Declaration “Nostra Aetate” – Second Vatican Council reverses traditional condemnation of Jews as murderers of Jesus.
- 1986 – August 17: United Church of Canada officially apologizes to Canada’s native people for past wrongs inflicted by the Church. (What these wrongs were are never stated)
- 1992 – Oct 31 : The Catholic Church begs pardon for placing Galileo Galilei under house arrest for life in 1633. Apology coming 359 years!
- 1993 – August 9 : Pope John Paul II apologizes for Catholic involvement in African slave trade.
- 1994 – April – 800 German Christians apologize to the Dutch for Nazi invasion of Netherlands in World War 2.
- 1995 – March : Jesuit general congregation apologizes for abetting ‘male domination’ and pledged ‘solidarity with women’. It must be said that in Asian and Native America the women were afforded a superior place and this was reversed by the Church and European Colonial governments which today preach gender equality.
- 1995 – May : Pope John Paul II begs forgiveness from Czech Republic for Church’s role in stake burnings and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation.
- 1995 – July 10: Pope John Paul II addresses a letter to ‘every woman’ apologizing to them for the Church’s stance against women’s rights and for the historical denigration of women.
- 1997 – September 30 : French Roman Catholic Church apologizes for role during Holocaust and silence during 1940 Vichy regime.
- 1998 – February 20: Anglican Church of Australia apologizes for participation in policy of forcibly removing aboriginal children from their mothers.
- 1998 – March 16: Vatican apologizes for silence and inaction during Holocaust.
- 1998 – November: Catholic Priests Conference of India demands apology from the Catholic Church for its association with colonial forces in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 16 years on, that apology is yet to be realized. Pope Francis needs to prioritize this request and fulfill the obligation of the Church to apologize.
- 1999 – September 2: Pope John Paul II asks forgiveness for past errors of the Catholic Church. He does not specify what these ‘errors’ are.
- 1999 – September 15: Roman Catholic Church officials in Quebec announce they WILL NOT APOLOGIZE to aging ‘Duplessis Orphans’ who suffered years of abuse while under the case of the Church from 1930s through 1950s. If the Church can apologize to the white nations why are they reluctant to apologize to the black and brown nations of the world?
- 1999 – December 18 : Pope John Paul II apologizes for the execution of religious reformer Jan Hus in 1415. The apology coming 584years later!
- 2000 – January 26: Pagan community send letter to Pope John Paul II calling Vatican to apologize to Pagans during millennial apology for the Inquisition.
- 2000 – March 12: Pope John Paul II asks forgiveness for the sins of the Catholics throughout the ages during a public Mass of Pardon.“Christians… have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown contempt for their cultures and religious traditions’. Our contention is how much of these policies and attitudes have actually changed within the Church hierarchy and those that steer policy today?
- 2000 – April 18 : official Vatican newspaper rejects a call by gay-rights activists for an apology from the Catholic Church. Homosexuals were not included in the Pope’s March 12 request for forgiveness for past wrongs committed by Catholics.
- 2000 – September 5: Canada’s Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and United churches apologize to Eskimos and Indians for decades of abuse by white church officials. Again what these specific abuses were are never mentioned.
- 2001 – May 28 : Roman Catholic Church of Poland apologizes for complicity in killing of 1.6m Jews during World War 2
- 2001 – November 22 : Pope John Paul II apologies for sex abuse by priests.
- 2002 – April 24: Pope John Paul II apologizes to victims of sexual abuse by priests
- 2002 – October 14: Rev. Jerry Falwell apologizes for calling the Prophet Muhammad a ‘terrorist’ during a television interview.
While the Pope has apologized for the Inquisition and the crimes committed by the Church upon the West, why has the Church not apologized to India in particular for the crimes committed during the period of the Goa Inquisition? It is time that this is done. If the Church can apologize to the Europeans for the Inquisition why does the Church not extend an apology to Indians and Sri Lankans for the Portuguese Inquisitions in both Goa and Sri Lanka? A Catharsis and Public Repentance by the Catholics is a sine quo non to move forward towards any reconciliation. The Catholic Church cannot continue to remain in a state of permanent denial on such horrific crimes which is no longer a secret.
It must be borne in mind that the existential fears of Buddhists remain a very strong topic that the Abrahamic religions competing for global domination cannot ignore. With the Pope paying a visit to South Korea in August 2014 with the knowledge that South Korea is a success story in Christianity’s bid for harvesting souls where 90% Buddhist population in Korea has come down to just 23% in 65 years and Pope Francis being urged to come to Sri Lanka makes us to wonder if the next success story for the Church is looking to be Sri Lanka?
Our fears are all the more serious knowing the links of the Church to Western governments, their secret intelligence agencies and second phase of colonial rule via neo-colonialism in which the Church plays and integral part continuing as the repository of all the pilferage that took place throughout colonial rule and building the Western nations/continents using the wealth/resources stolen from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the indigenous peoples of Native America/Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Our anxieties and fears of the Church and its ulterior motives are based on an ugly historical past. This past commenced with the Portuguese arrival in Colombo in 1505.
How prepared is Pope Francis to apologize and compensate for the crimes committed by the Catholic Church that included the Ecclesiastical Order:
- Converting Buddhists/Hindus and Muslims to Christianity but prohibiting Christians converting to Buddhism/Hinduism & Islam
- Demolishing all heathen places of worship in Portuguese controlled areas
- Expelling all non-Christian clergy, teachers,
- All non-Christian sacred texts seized and destroyed
- All Buddhists & Hindus prohibited from visiting their respective temples
- Prohibiting transit passage of Asian pilgrims
- Prohibiting celebration of non-Christian weddings and religious processions
- Forcing non-Christian orphans to be handed over to Christian guardians or foster parents and baptizing them
- Forbidding Christians from living or lodging with non-Christians
How prepared is Pope Francis to look at the work of Portuguese historian Father De Queyroz who has given a list of all Buddhist temples razed to the ground and on top of which Catholic Churches are erected. This list is a perfect start of acknowledgement and apology as well as compensation by the Church for the crimes committed upon the Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in Sri Lanka.
Catholic Church collaborating with the LTTE
In addition how prepared is Pope Francis to look at the links of the Church fathers in Sri Lanka to LTTE terror and launch an immediate investigation on their conduct to decide whether they deserved to be ex-communicated.
How prepared is Pope Francis to address directly the strong allegation that the Catholic Church spearheaded calls for a war crimes inquiry against Sri Lanka and the letters sent by the Catholic Church and clergy to the UNHRC is evidence.
If such was the case the only conclusion we can draw is that Sri Lanka’s leaders are yet to know who its friends and enemies are.
With the Church unwilling so far to acknowledge, apologize and even compensate for its crimes the Church or its representatives have no moral right to speak on behalf of Tamils for reconciliation. Reconciliation for the Church must start with acknowledging its criminal past and vowing to not repeat such.
Rise of the RSS in India
Finally with the election of Narendra Modhi as India’s new Prime Minister and the rise of both the BJP and RSS in India, it hardly needs stressing that Sri Lanka needs to be very careful in forging strong ties with western religious institutions that have had a very close association with European colonialism in the dark past and neo – colonialism in the modern era.
While Asia unfolds the red carpet for European Christian leaders there is hardly any reciprocity on the part of the Christian West in giving any form of official recognition to Asia’s Dharmic religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Buddhism is officially recognized in only two European countries i.e. Russia and Austria. Is inter – faith dialogue possible if there is no official recognition of someone else’s faith?
Tendering an unequivocal apology for Catholic crimes of the past must be made the key basis of the forthcoming visit of the Pope to Sri Lanka. A failure to do so will undermine the credibility of the sponsors including the State among a vast majority of the local populace.
May 28th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
A recent case of inappropriate Catholic Action comes to mind. A few years ago when the book Da Vinci Code was about to be sold in Sri Lanka, the Catholic Church protested. The spineless Sri Lankan leadership capitulated and stopped the sale and distribution of this harmless piece of pulp fiction. While there was no stoppage of this book anywhere else in the civilised world, Sri Lanka went onto rub shoulders with the former canibalistic and only recently brought to the 21st century stone age peoples of the Soloman Islands.
People of Sri Lanka who are over 93% Buddhists, Hindus and Islamist for whom the contents of this book Dan Brown are irrelevant were prevented from enjoying an immensely readable bool.
Furthermore Sri Lanka seems to be the only country where the Catholic Church do not seem to have any case of Church abuse of young children reported! I wonder if the same pressure that was exerted on the Dan Brown’s book Da Vinci Code too is imposed on the reportage of such crimes, by the Sri Lankan authorities. This is a good occasion for such victims to make their voices heard.
The Catholic Church – the continuation of the Bloody Roman Empire, since its advent on the shores of our beloved motherland in 1505, has never left the corridors of power to this day. Hook or by crook it manages to crawl and exert influence on Sri Lankan leaders. The Catholic Church who openly advocated against a Rajapakse presidency in 2005 has now crawled back through the President’s bedroom window. Hence the multiple visits to the den of thieves- the repository of worldwide stolen artefacts – the centre for religious terrorism, money laundering, refuge to pedophiles – the Vatican, and hence this Papal visit to Sri Lanka – the unfortunate Buddhist Sri Lanka who does not have the teeth to prevent this abomination.
In the least the Buddhist leaders and Buddhists of Sri Lanka should boycott this papal visit in disgust and outrage. This visit is to affirm the agenda of his two predecessors – “Harvest souls in Asia as its mission for the 3rd millennium”. Sri Lanka like South Korea is definitely in the Catholic Church menu!
May 28th, 2014 at 4:40 pm
There is NO evidence the CRIMES of Portuguese in SL were anyway SANCTIONED by the Pope.
It was FOOLISH of the then SL king to save Muslims from the Portuguese. IF the good king had NOT intervened, SL would have ONE LESS problem to worry about today!
He settled Muslims in Amparei and today Amparei district is MUSLIM majority. They DESTROY Buddhist places, evict Sinhalese, take away Sinhalese women and even DEMAND an ISLAMIC province.
When your enemies are doing a MISTAKE, never stop them.
Last year MR and GR visited the pope. And begged him to visit SL! That is why he is visiting SL. MR’s wife is a Catholic and ALL his sons had an ANGLICAN education. Even BR’s and GR’s kids had Christian education.
May 29th, 2014 at 6:06 am
Ratnapala,
When I saw the title of Shenali’s article I knew your comment will be there. Anyway I refer to your opening sentence first. I am a Catholic with four brothers and a sister from a poor family. None of us have benefitted from a Catholic action in anyway. When I was fourteen I was sent to meet the Bishop of Chilow with a teacher by my parish priest to ask for a favour (not for me but for the Catholic church). He completely disregarded that request. The consequence was all six of us marrying Buddhist. Ratnapala, the Catholic action, if at all existed, helped only a small section of the Catholics, may be some Colombians.
With due respect to genuine Buddhist, I must say with all religious teachings and bana in the temples our country has descended to the lowest level in the world, perhaps even below the country you mentioned. May be our politicians due to their own folly have become vulnerable, with money in various foreign banks wants help from Vatican using their connections.What can the ordinary Catholics do about it?. I think you are barking at the wrong tree. Please try to correct the bad Buddhist by writing regularly in these columns.
May 29th, 2014 at 8:57 am
An apology is a start but will not do. Take the reverse. If an apology from Colombo regarding the accusations of human rights leveled on her would surmise and end the UN bogus human rights motions against Sri Lanka. “oh so sorry, will not to that again” has not got Sri Lanka away from the UNHRC. What the Sri Lankan military did in my eyes was justified. Once Napoleon Bonaparte stated “Who saves a nation violates no laws”. Rajapakse saved Sri Lanka and by that he did not violate any laws nor did the military. Yet for four years Sri Lanka has been marginalized and treated like a Pariah by a group of nations, all except for India are Christian.
One cannot kill a person, burn his house, rape his wife and daughters and then simply say “Iam sorry”. If the Christian nations raped, plundered, decimated a proud ancient nation like Sri Lanka then like Israel or the American Japanese an apology should be followed with reparations. The Vatican is the wealthiest religious institute in the world. It has investments that traverse the globe. The Vatican should not only apologize but help the Buddhist Sanga regain what they lost under the brutality of their rule. Short of that it is empty words to a ravaged victim.
May 29th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
BW,
I take your first sentence also. Buddhism allows people to change. The great king Asoka was a murderer. Angulimala was also said to be like that but was pardoned. Similarly our rulers also can change. The West may have done crimes in the past. But they have set in a just world order allowing people like you from Sri Lanka to migrate to their lands and even allowed freedom for you to castigate them while sitting in those white Christian countries. Please come to Sri Lanka, open your eyes and see what is happening here now instead of glorifying the war victories. If we go on like this Sinhalese will lose their country very soon. It is the UK that is leading the onslaught against SL and other EU countries are simply helpless.
May 29th, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Are there Sinhala HINDUS? NO.
Are there Sinhala Islamics? NO.
Sinhalese are only 2 groups – Buddhists and Christians.
A LARGE number of Buddhists are married to Christians. Including MR.
If you DIVIDE them you are essentially DIVIDING the Sinhalese. Please understand this. There is NO WORSE sin or crime than dividing the Sinhalese.
15 Tamil invasions and 3 Christian invasions destroyed parts of SL. FACT.
Should we take revenge from Tamils or Christians for that? I don’t think so.
But we must demand COMPENSATION from them and an APOLOGY (at least).
It must come from the PERPITRATORS. (Portugal, Netherland. UK, Tamil Nadu, Endia). NOT from the pope or other LESSER figures of these crimes.
When pope comes SLs must get him to,
1. Understand violence was used by European invaders to spread Christianity. They destroyed SL. Brought down Tamilians to destroy SL.
2. Understand SL needs compensation and an apology from these countries.
3. Understand SL church helped Tamil terrorists and these criminals must be punished by the church.
4. Understand and agree that SL is a UNITARY SINHALA BUDDHIST country where others have equal rights.
5. Face a 21 gun salute BY THE SL ARMY that won the war.
May 30th, 2014 at 9:13 am
Aloy:
Just a few issues regarding your comment. Ashoka saw the carnage he did after he defeated the Kalinga Empire. He did not apologize to those who were still alive. He changed. He realized the mistakes he made, too the appropriate action and that is convert to a new faith called Buddhism and then did he propagated that faith without using the sword.
In many ways he is much greater than the western version and that being Constantine who did use the sword and wars to push Christianity. Emperor Ashoka did not. He gave far more to the world due to the fact that he put into actions his regret of what he did. That is the basis of my comment. An apology will not do. Actions have to justify that apology.
Sitting in the comfort of a “white Christian nation”. You have heard and read of the litany of Tamil suffering that forced them to leave Sri Lanka. Here is mine:
I came from an upper class Sinhalese family. My Grandfather was a Pali Scholar. That would mean a hell of beans until I explain what that translates. Bhikkhus from the Buddhist Sanga would come to him to have ancient Pali manuscripts translated or transliterated. that also means he held a very important connection with the Sri Lankan Buddhist Sanga.
He had 8 children, the oldest being my dad who was a Physician. His next brother was one of the first Asians at that time (1950s) to graduate out of Oxford University. His other brothers held positions in the government, high positions. My grandparents had a plot of land in central Colombo (Dehiwala) that was several city blocks wide. To get to my grand parents home we had to drive through a “mini” forest of fruit trees planted by my grandmother and wild life.. right in the middle of Colombo.
I attended St. Peters college till the 6th grade before we decided to leave. the reasons are not due to the war but family reasons. Eventually the entire family left Sri Lanka for various parts of the world.
You have no idea when you state that I live in a “white Christian” country. It is not. The usual belief is that the US is predominately made up of Whites and blacks and race is the defining issue. What is NOT stated is that the US is made up the White “culture” and the black “culture” (Not race). The black ghetto culture now defines this nation.
So what has that got to do with me and the west? everything. My father wanted only two things when choosing a nation (outside of it being a first world nation). English and Christianity. Because of secularism Christianity is dead in the US. I can write an entire article about it but take my word on it.
What did I lose. everything. Simply due to the college I attended and the family links I was positioned to easily rise in Sri Lanka to levels that I could only now dream about. Just the value of my Grandparents land in Colombo would have been a financial game changer. If not for that war I would have easily been in the position to govern, even to head a company. I had the education, the talent and the family connections for it. I fell from that lofty heights to what ever level I am now in the US. Compared to the endless lamentations of Expat Tamils I fell far more than most of them. I lost far more than most of them.
This does not even include my mother’s side who were owners of tea, rubber, coconut and cinnamon estates.
Aloy: Between 1971 to 2014 I lost so much that in retrospect the war, the dismantling of my family and their traditional power base in Colombo to the estates to my education in one of the most prestigious colleges in Sri Lanka is so immense that after you read this please do not take that condescending attitude with me of the “glorious” life I live in a “white/black” culture of Secularism in a decaying US while you suffer the pangs of living in the land of my forefathers. Save your sermons for others.
May 30th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
“One appears to have a chip on one’s shoulders.”
Giving up the higher echelons, privilege and “lofty heights” to the land of freedom and opportunities and not “making it” to the expectations one perceives to be a given right and lost more than most?- Hogwash
That’s indeed why I admire many Sri Lankans with very little education or privilege have made good (dam good!) by sheer hard work and dedication.
The four refugee friends who set up and run Lebarra comes to mind who are now worth £ billionaires. They are still humble and have not forgotten their roots. Charitable Foundations in Sri Lanka.
Another (who shall remain nameless) started off as a toilet cleaner at Heathrow Airport in the 1980’s who now runs one of the largest Logistic and Facility Management Companies servicing many of the tallest office buildings in London, New York, Dubai & Sydney. He still drives around in a 12 year old Honda and gives a mere £50 a week pocket money to his teenage (2) kids.
Both of these examples given above did not look at black/brown/white cultures but at hard work and determination and took advantage of the white culture in so far as PR exercises to further their business ventures.
May 30th, 2014 at 2:37 pm
BW,
“In many ways he is much greater than the western version and that being Constantine who did use the sword and wars to push Christianity. Emperor Ashoka did not. He gave far more to the world due to the fact that he put into actions his regret of what he did. That is the basis of my comment. An apology will not do. Actions have to justify that apology. ”
– A golden statement ! Clear and precise. Thank you very much for making that statement so beautiful.
Both Christianity and Islam has a history of violence. Sometimes even on each other. Buddhism ? Nil. That is the beauty of Buddhism, impeccable record. Even Hindus practiced and still practice violence ( mainly against animals now).
May 30th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
BW,
Thank you for your sermons which I read on almost all articles; they are very interesting and give a good perspective of the world affairs.
So, you have gone through the school by the sea. I often hear when someone dies their relatives proudly say his three generations have been educated in St. Thomas (passed through the mill) etc. etc. To me that only shows how much anti SL they have been as these schools have been set up by the missionaries to serve the British. Even after SL got independence their mindset did not change. They are simply not fit to serve SL. I will give you an example. In my uni batch around 30-40% were from these two or three schools. After passing out none of these people stayed in SL to serve the motherland. But I think they are much better than the yakkos from elsewhere; they did not steal from the government coffers to build their dream house in Colombo or send their children overseas.
However I still request you to consider the last three sentences in my above post. I do not give sermons; I only speak my mind.
May 30th, 2014 at 6:03 pm
Aloy,
I’d like to do what you say and we make visits regularly every time to get battered by “yakkos from elsewhere” rather than those irritating Colombians Ranil’s friends. Everyone there is to rob you.
May 30th, 2014 at 11:11 pm
Marco,
Sorry, I could not include this in my above comment.
The two successful business people you mentioned must be obviously from north. They are generally hard workers who do not have the ‘impermanence’ at the back of their mind. However I hope they did not receive the seed money like in the case of Raj Rajaratnum. So we have to take these stories with a pinch of salt. Our people had great admiration for Raj before he got into trouble with the authorities. I have come across a few in other places too, but seem to have squandered the opportunity.
May 31st, 2014 at 10:14 am
Marco: My summary of my life never stated I am at the bottom of the heap in this society and your conclusion that that the US is the land of free and the home of the brave is a joke. I live here. I see what is taking place. there are so many regulations especially in large cities that the concept of “freedom” depends on the person. your examples of success stories of other Sri Lankans does not mean mine has not been one of success. I do live in a nationally registered historic home (all 4 thousand square feet of it). but I am not going to to tell my life journey in detail no more than you know of those who you claim to now be so successful. They unlike me keep their problems personal as most should leaving people like you to believe they never had to fall down several times and pick themselves up each and every time. That applies to anyone who has a life successful or otherwise and that also depends on what you consider ” “successful”. Just me living in the US is considered “successful” by many in Sri Lanka. That should tell you something. Moving to the US is does not guarantee that one will be assured success, happiness and bliss. It also does not mean it is a living hell. That is the burden of freedom and choice. I have no idea what aspects in their personal life made them so successful. Do you? Do you know the reasons behind why people are poor or rich, sad or happy? No one does except that person. You only look at the end result and draw the conclusion that the US played a great role in it. You better check out those who have made a success story of their lives in Sri Lanka and why. for that matter the success story of anyone in any nation and why. Do not come to me and give me a list of people who are rich or famous and write to me that they by that are also successful. They maybe successful in having more money than I do but I have read many very rich people commit suicide too.
According to Aloy and I quote Aloy: “our country has descended to the lowest level in the world, perhaps even below the country you mentioned”
Aloy bases that comment living in Sri Lanka. I do not. What I saw in Sri Lanka in one month verses the cultural horror of the US, Sri Lanka is miles ahead. that then comes to perspectives. ‘grasser is always greener on the other side” kind of mentality. Aloy is wrong because Aloy has not experienced the “Ghetto black culture” that now defines the US culture including gangs or blacks soccer punching people in the face on a random basis. If Aloy is just exposed to that and the consequences of a long hospital recovery if he survives it he nor you would be so enamored by the US. run into the drug culture of heroin addicts, the US version of liberalism. I have and believe me it is downright dangerous. You DO NOT point to those who made it up the ladder and then by some law end up in a life time prison.
Aloy: you need to read you first comment about your life in Sri Lanka. your opinion of Sri Lanka before commenting about other people’s lives in other nations that the sob stories or success stories of their lives. Reading your comment, you as a Catholic living in that “god forsaken land” called Sri Lanka which you seem to consider a living hell is proof enough for me that you want to cry all over this forum about your life as a Sri Lankan catholic but question others if they say anything about your dreams of fleeing that “hell” that I read in your first comment. Life is not that simple not even for the most privileged. Take this advice. Every person on earth even the Rothschilds have a burdensome cross they carry. theirs maybe less burdensome than others or maybe not. Wealth and power does not necessarily translate to happiness. That is one of the messages of the Buddha. But even the happiest man or woman has some person “cross” they bear. That is the nature of life. That does not mean what Marco said is right. coming to one nation especially the US is a solution to all of life’s problems. Instead they bring up a whole new set of new problems.
Nanda. Thanks.
May 31st, 2014 at 10:37 am
Marco: I stated I have read of rich people committing suicide and could give you a list but a month or so ago in the DRUDGE Report a man committed suicide by jumping off a high rise. He had 850 million dollars. The first thought that came into my mind is why would he choose that option when he can pay the best Psychiatrists and Psychologists to work out his problems. He could seek the best spiritual leaders anywhere on the globe and yet he chose to end his life.. and in a horrible way. Being that wealthy he had a plethora of effective choices of how to end his life without suffering or shock. There are even organizations in the US that help people commit suicide in a comfortable way (Hemlock society) yet this extremely rich man chose to jump. If he survived that fall he would have ended as a human vegetable in a hospital hooked up to machines for the rest of his life.
I do understand in many cases suicide is a spur of the moment decision that if one took time to think would opt out, and that I have only given you one single example when I can give you many just in the US alone, but I wanted you to know this example so that you will not dismiss my comment that I know of rich people committing suicide (which means wealth(also being a relative issue) does not translate to eternal bliss)
May 31st, 2014 at 2:03 pm
Bernard I thank you for your response but I regret you have gone off in a tangent.
In my comment above I did not refer to or imply being rich was being successful (although you may have inferred to it by reference to “Just the value of my Grandparents land in Colombo would have been a financial game changer. If not for that war I would have easily been in the position to govern, even to head a company. I had the education, the talent and the family connections for it. I fell from that lofty heights to what ever level I am now in the US”
I was merely demonstrating that with sheer hard work and determination people with less privileges like you have made good without carrying baggage and to add further possibly not contemplating suicide because they started with zero.
If I can cut to the chase when you stated – “What I saw in Sri Lanka in one month verses the cultural horror of the US, Sri Lanka is miles ahead. that then comes to perspectives”
That indeed says a lot.
I lived and worked in Sri Lanka since 2002 and since 2010 following semi-retirement spend 6 months in Colombo and 6 summer months in London. I’m not a tourist to Sri Lanka visiting for a month spending my $.
I have witnessed over the years the degeneration of values, respect and good will among Sri Lankan Communities, but it was my choice and still believe my life style is comfortable without requiring a huge bank balance or requiring the assistance of a Psychiatric.
I don’t wish to respond on Aloy’s behalf as I’m sure he would if he thinks fit, however I recall Aloy has or still runs a successful Engineering Consultancy in SL.l
Aloy- Raj Rajaratnam was too clever for his own boots, greedy and damn silly to dream about unachievable heights.
His family was wealthy in the first place to begin with. His Father was the Chairman and CEO of Singer Co of Sri Lanka (1969 to 1973) and subsequently held the Presidents post as CEO of Singer Co (SE Asia)
May 31st, 2014 at 7:05 pm
Aloy,
I thank you very much for the comments. I gather from your comments that perhaps due to a slight you received at the hands of the Bishop of Chilaw you, your brothers and sister all married into Buddhist families. Fact of the matter is one should not generalize one’s own experiences to the world at large. I had my early education in Catholic Government Assisted Schools and have no major grouse against their treatment to me as a Buddhist. That part of my experience is only the trees of my picture. However that part of experience should not blur away the mountains, (of downright injustice, death, and destruction of non Christian cultures,) that looms in the background.
There are many Christians and Catholics who marry into Buddhist families. The proof of the pudding is how many of their progeny end up being Buddhist. Most of them not only end up as Christians/Catholics, but virulent anti-Buddhists. The Chruch and her clergy see to that aspect of the conversion.
Most Christian- Catholic / Buddhist marriages are not equal partnerships. The church intervenes and see to it that offspring are brought up in the Christian faith. This sometimes happens at the Christian ceremony that usually follows a grand poruwa ceremony. Pray tell me for I believe this to be true – Does the Christian / Catholic Church mandate the couple to sign a contract that they will bring up their children in the Christian / Catholic faith when they insist that the marriage should be registered and sanctified in the eyes of the Church? If this is true it may have happened to our President’t marriage too!
Catholic Action in Sri Lanka was and is mostly directed at the Sinhala Buddhist majority. Their main attempt was and is towards gaining power and increasing the number of Catholics and less towards the welfare of those who are already Catholics. This is seen worldwide in the fact that most of the Third World Catholic countries remain poor in spite of the fact that the Catholic Church remains one of the richest religious establishments in the world. The outward humility of the Pope is not seen in the church agenda he follows. I don’t blame ordinary Catholics for the machinations of the Catholic Church, but resent their silence and inaction towards the actions of the church which include – large scale money laundering, protection of pedophiles, collusion with Western Christian Countries for regime change, religious terrorism and destruction of indigenous cultures.
Throughout the 30 year Terrorist War, there was not a single Catholic or Christian organization of any repute who stood against the Tamil racism nor the LTTE. They were quick to show that Tamil Tiger Terrorism as arising due to discrimination of the minority Tamil Hindus by the majority Buddhist Sinhalese when nothing can be further from the truth. Oswald Gomis the Bishop of Colombo and Bishop Chickera were at the forefront of this onslaught. Now that the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka is over we see Sri Lankan Catholics in and outside Sri Lanka fronting up as the real patriots. They are at the forefront of commemorating the war heroes. The truth is Catholic Church wanted to see Sri Lanka divided and ordinary Catholics dreamt of a day when Sri Lanka would be a Catholic country like the Philippines. Even now the support in Sri Lanka for the 13th Amendment and Provincial Councils is part of this agenda.
The LTTE is a Catholic Jesuits terror network, now headed by a German Catholic priest Father S. Joseph Emmanuel, a close associate of the former LTTE leader Prabakaran. All top terrorist leaders including Prabhakaran and Balasingham were Catholics. Their atrocities and the present practice are in perfect match with the prescription given in the Jesuit Extreme Oath of the Catholic Church. The LTTE terror network now operates overseas and across the world. Top leaders, the NGOs, the front organizations and the news media are all Christians. There are local politician who are sworn Catholics actively supporting the LTTE. There are a number of Catholic media groups and web houses with no allegiance to the country publishing false propaganda against Sri Lanka. In this respect the main opposition party the UNP is firmly in bosom of the Christian Church.
May 31st, 2014 at 11:55 pm
The Jesuit Extreme Oath of the Catholic Church: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/jesuits.htm
June 1st, 2014 at 9:36 am
Lorenzo: “There is NO evidence the CRIMES of Portuguese in SL were anyway SANCTIONED by the Pope.” I disagree. From the Conquistadors that annihilated the Aztec civilization and plundered their gold to the lucrative slave trade to the Catholic actions and persecutions carried out across the globe covered several centuries. To even think that the head of the Catholic church did not have a direct hand in it is to blindly dismiss the role the Pope plays. I really do not know in depth if there are edicts and documents signed by the Pope that authorized such far reaching actions, but nevertheless they took place under the rule of several Popes who personally gained by those actions.
Marco: Apologize for being so verbose. that is one of my problems since that is also my style of writing. “keep it simple Stupid” has not yet made its way into my way of expressing myself. I read your comment and fully understand your point of view. Just want to leave you with this parting note. I too had to fall so many times in my life and then pick up in order to force myself to the next level. I believe those who do end up with some level of success (of any kind including wealth, health, spirituality etc) have to invariably trip and fall through their journey in life. It was not a bed of roses for me and even so remember those “beds of roses have plenty of thorns in them”
June 1st, 2014 at 9:59 am
Ratnapala,
Thank you for the response. You are wrong to say that I was slighted by the Bishop. In fact I preferred the action he took. I realized why he took that action long afterwards during the tiger war when they virtually supported the terrorist.
About the Portugese, I must say my father and others in our area did not have any animosity against them. He even asked me to keep a title given to his ancestors and pass it on which I didn’t. However they disliked the British, perhaps due to discrimination. I think it is time they make amends as we do not have much against British except for their whole hearted support to separatist. As for the Wellassa atrocities they seem to have done same to their own people in the US during their civil wars. So to my mind it is not something they have done to Sinhalese only. What ever it is, to my knowledge they did not try to eradicate Buddhism in this country and left it after handing over to us as a unitary state, for which we must be thankful. When they handed over the country we were perhaps second only to Japan in this region.
June 1st, 2014 at 1:43 pm
BW,
By then the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE had collapsed millennia ago. Those invasions were by the OWN ACCORD of European countries. And Japan in the late 19th century.
June 1st, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Ratanapala,
LTTE was NEVER a Christian terror network.
LTTE is a HINDU terror network. LTTE symbolizes HINDUISM.
1. The tiger in the LTTE flag wears VIBHUTHI ash on its forehead!! Clearly a HINDU tiger!
2. VP was a HINDU, NEVER a Christian. There is NO evidence to say he was a Christian. There are plenty of evidence for his HINDU faith.
3. New LTTE is NOT headed by that bishop. TNA is the new LTTE.
4. It was HINDUSTAN that created the LTTE.
5. TNA voters are HINDUS. Christians generally vote for UNP, SLFP or EPDP.
e.g. Jaffna city and Delft have a Christian MAJORITY. They are the ONLY places UPFA won and has a municipal council, PS under its control. TNA won elsewhere.
6. So called Jaffna kingdom was also a HINDU thing with the COW as their symbol. King Sakkili a Hindu king KILLED all Buddhists in Jaffna. Monks were poisoned to death.
7. People like Kadirgamar, Jeyaraj, Sam and Arun Thambimuttu were/are Christians. NOT Hindus. Are there better Tamil leaders in SL? NO. ALL Hindu leaders from the north and east are LTTE supporters.
8. SL army, navy, air force, etc. had PLENTY of Christians at high places. I challenge you to name as many HINDUS in such places. NO ONE!! They were all LTTE supporters.
June 2nd, 2014 at 8:32 am
Lorenzo: You should check out the Medici family of Italy and their blood relations to the Pope. There were several Popes from that family who practiced Machiavellian ways to wealth and against each other. You should also check out the Borgia family and their blood connections to the Pope.
They were a thousand plus years after the fall of Rome and the Godfathers of the renaissance
June 3rd, 2014 at 7:55 am
Lorenzo: I forgot to add the actions of the Conquistadors against the Aztec civilization in the new world in the 16th century and a few centuries after the Medici and the Borgia families of Italy. That too was done under the Papacy and the Papacy was the direct recipient of those golden conquests.
June 3rd, 2014 at 7:22 pm
Aloy,
I said a lot in my last reply and I would like to get yours and others comments on those – especially about the Christian / Buddhist marriages and the role played by the Church at the marriage ceremony.
How the British treated Sri Lanka differently is due to strategic reasons. They did not want major upheavals as Sri Lanka was a major entrepot for their trade, commerce and military. Later Sri Lanka was the military administration centre for South East Asia and SEATO – (the South East Asia Treaty Organisation) head quarters was in Sri Lanka. The other reason is that among the many scoundrels that came as Governors and administrators there were a few educated gentlemen too who took interest in the culture and religion of Sri Lanka. Moreover the geographical location of Sri Lanka was such that they could not easily get away with large scale atrocities and injustices ( such those imposed on the people of India ) , without the rest of the world coming to know.
Lorenzo,
These days I am watching the TV series- The Borgias, based on the history of the Medici Family run Vatican. Every vulgar thing that is possible under the sun happened within the walls of the Vatican – sex, incest, crimes against children, violence, murder and pillage, thievery to name only a few. That is not to say what happened after the Borgias. Vatican is nothing but the continuation of the Bloody Roman Empire by other and subtle means. They are the authors of the Inquisitions all over the world – the famous one’s being the Spanish, Portuguese inquisitions where through kangaroo courts innocent people were put to death by the most horrible means imaginable. Vatican even supported the ill treatment of jews and the indirectly the Holocaust. It is sad to imagine that such hypocrisy can happen in a place suppose to be so close to Heaven and God! It is a futile exercise to whitewash Christianity and Catholism. Please read the Extreme Jesuit Oath of the Catholic Church to understand the mentality of the Vatican. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/jesuits.htm
As for Prabhakaran, be may have been born to Hindu parents, but later in life he came under the influence of the Christian Clergy and sided with his benefactors the Christian / Catholic Church. He used the ideas and symbolism of Hinduism and especially the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana Story to fool the Hindus in their murderous campaign against the Sinhalese. One has to see who profited front from the LTTE. It is the Catholic/Christian Church. Those who brought in and later propagated the separatist dogma were the Ponnambalams. Chelvanaykams and Amirthalingams – all either Christian or Catholic. Today the throughout the Vanni makeshift churches are mushrooming and increasingly the poor Hindus are being converted to Christianity. For the Tamil leadership their hatred for the Sinhalese far outweighs their love for their religion or their culture.
June 4th, 2014 at 8:08 am
Lorenzo “LTTE was NEVER a Christian terror network.” true but it was headed by a Catholic. In that sense the papacy to the Christian based nations had some say with Prabhakaran. Not one of them even tried. His followers were Hindu but Prabhakaran made the decisions.
June 5th, 2014 at 3:02 am
Ranapala,
The catholic church gave the nod reluctantly at the beginning . Those of us would have gone ahead even without their clearance. Later it became a routine matter to have both poruwa and church service. Since my wedding, I went for a church service only last month for my nieces wedding. People are not very much concerned about religion these days except the born again Christian. The catholic church and mahanayakas are all the same, not much active. So, your fears are unfounded.