ACN News

Funeral Services for Victims of the Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka

Funeral services for the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks took place on 23rd of April at St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, Negombo. His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, presided over a funeral service for a group of victims at 10.00am at the church premises.

The coffins were brought to the premises one at a time for the services amidst intense security. Funeral services and the burials took place in an atmosphere of heavy grief and sorrow with relatives and friends weeping and mourning for the unexpected loss of their loved ones. His Eminence offered a message of consolation to the faithful gathered and invited the faithful to not give into violent retaliation. Meanwhile, the death toll of the series of explosions has risen up to 359.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith offered a message of consolation to the faithful gathered and invited the faithful to not give into violent retaliation. Credit to photographers: Roshan Pradeep & T Sunil.
Copyright Aid to the Church in Need.

Support for the Church in Sri Lanka after Easter Attacks 2019

Now is the time for us to stand in solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters. For too long the world has widely ignored the persecution of Christians, with much of the media playing ignorant to this global issue.

The horror of the suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter morning has ricocheted across the globe, this is the only positive to come from such tragedy - the world is now waking up to Christian persecution.

Easter Morning Suicide Bombings of Churches, Hotels in Sri Lanka Kill 290

by Joop Koopman - 22.04.2019

IN SRI LANKA, suicide bombers hit three churches and hotels in coordinated, near simultaneous attacks Easter morning that left 290 people dead, while wounding an estimated 500 more.

The series of bombings began at approximately 8.45AM in the capital of Colombo with an explosion at St. Anthony Shrine, a historic church designated as the country’s national shrine. It is the country’s best-known Catholic church. Within about 45 minutes, a second Catholic church was hit, St. Sebastian’s, in Negomba, some 20 miles up the country’s western coast from Colombo. Subsequently, a bomb exploded at the Protestant Zion Church in Batticaloa, on the eastern coast.

During the same time period, there were explosions at three upscale hotels in Colombo that are popular with Westerners. There are several dozen foreigners among the dead. There are reports of two additional explosions in Colombo.

Image from St Sebastian's Church, Katuwapitiya, Negombo, Sri Lanka Facebook Page posted on Sunday 21st April, 1.25pm.

Drama at Notre-Dame: watch, pray, do not be discouraged

by Pierre Macqueron

On Monday 15 April, the first day of Holy Week, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was ravaged by a terrible fire. This was a drama which invited us to pray unceasingly, and without being discouraged.

Shortly before 8pm, the burning spire collapsed into the nave of the cathedral. The fire, which had broken out around 6.50pm in the timbers of the roof, was overcome by about 3.30am, according to the Paris firefighters. Two-thirds of the roof has been destroyed. Ravaged by flames in the night of 15-16 April, the building - the most visited in Europe, welcoming between 12 and 14 million visitors and pilgrims each year - had stood through history and survived countless events, from the French Revolution to the Second World War. An enquiry into ‘involuntary destruction by fire’ has been opened.

A photograph inside Notre Dame Cathedral shows some of the damage after the fire. Copyright Phillippe Wojazer.