Defence Secy. reacts to Cardinal’s criticism about probe
Posted on January 15th, 2022
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne said it is not fair to criticize the police investigation into the incident in which a grenade was found at the Borella All Saints’ Church, less than 24 hours after it was reported.
He made this remarks responding to the statement made by Archbishop His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith regarding the investigation into the incident.
Speaking to media after meeting with Chief Prelates of Malwatta and Asgiriya chapters, he assured that all those involved in the incident will be brought to justice.
“Investigation is not something that can be completed in two or three hours. It takes some time. I don’t think it’s fair to criticize investigations barely 24 hours had passed after the incident,” he said.
January 16th, 2022 at 10:11 pm
Cardinal barking up the wrong tree!
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith was almost there when he understood, that there is no protection to any in a Sri Lanka devoid of the protection of Sinhala Buddhism and the Sinhala Buddhists.
This was proven time and again in history. Sri Lankan Muslims were protected from the blood thirsty Catholic Portuguese by the Sinhala Kings. This is the reason for their domicile in the Kandayan provinces today. Thereafter the Protestant and equally murderous Dutch prosecuted the Catholics and they were found safe harbour in and around Kandy by the Sinhala Kings. The community of Catholics at Wahakotte bears testimony for this episode. If not for this kindly intervention there won’t be any Catholics left in Sri Lanka let alone a St Joseph Vaz!
Wikipedia records this happening as follows: “Vaz arrived in Ceylon during the Dutch occupation, when the Dutch were imposing Calvinism as the official religion after taking over from the Portuguese Empire. He travelled throughout the island bringing the Eucharist and the Sacraments to clandestine groups of crypto-Catholics. Later in his mission, he found shelter in the Kingdom of Kandy where he was able to work freely. By the time of his death, Vaz had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church on the island.”
“As a result of his labors, Vaz is known as the Apostle of Ceylon. On 21 January 1995, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Colombo. He was canonized on 14 January 2015 by Pope Francis in an open-air Mass ceremony at the Galle Face Green in Colombo.”
In all these occassions they were settling old animosities firstly for trade matters between the Portuguese and Arab Muslims and in the second occassion based on the going battles between Catholics and Protestants at the time in Europe. However all this is conveniently forgotten by the Catholics as well as by the Muslims.
The Buddhist establishment as well as the Sinhala Buddhist Culture is the bedrock on which peace in Sri Lanka rests. Any ungrateful who harms this foundation do so at their own peril and committing harakiri! The fact that the Cardinal is now on a different tack is clearly an embarrasement not only to those who expected much from him in the Buddhist Community, but also to the current administration.
Certainly the Cardinal is speaking out of ill-placed anger not with wisdom we generally expect from a holy man!