Media Release
Colombo, Nov 23: His Grace Dr Yuhanon Mar Diascorus, Metropolitan of Madras Diocese of Malankara Orthodox Church, inaugurated the two-day International workshop: 'A local and Global history of Buona Morte Church'. The workshop aims to delve into history of Independent Catholic Mission of Goa, Mangalore, India and Ceylon in 19th century, assessing the history of Buona Monte Church, once the headquarters of this mission.
The conference is hosted by the St Sebastian Parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo, the Madras Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft of Universita¨t Bonn at Caritas-SEDEC, Colombo on 22-23 November 2018.
Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, the commander of the Sri Lankan Army, a well-wisher of Malankara Orthodox Church, inaugurated the conference.
Fr Joy Mariaratnam CMF (Caritas Sri Lanka) welcomed the gathering.
Prof Dr Fr M O John (Old Seminary, Kottayam) moderated the morning session on 'Oriental Christianity in Ceylon: from the Persian Christians to the Malankara Syrian Orthodox'
The afternoon session on 'The Religious context of nineteenth century Ceylon', was moderated by Prof Dr Fr Jayalath Balagalla.
Paper Presentations
Prabo Mihindukulasuriya, Colombo: 'The Persian Christians of the Anuradhapura Period
Sujith George (Chennai): 'Was Independent Catholic Church a revival of Orthodox St Thomas Christians in Ceylon?'
Prof Dr Fr Gnanamuthu Pilendran (Jaffna): 'The establishment of the Buona Morte Church and the spread of Schism to Mannar and Jaffna - A study from a Roman Catholic Perspective'
Dr M Kurian Thomas (Kottayam): 'Eastern Christianity in Sri Lanka and the Conflicts on Liturgical Rites'
Prof Dr G P V Somaratna (Colombo): 'Christian background in Revival of Nationalistic Buddhism in 19th Century Sri Lanka'
Fr Marc Billimoria (Dehiwela): 'Developments in 19th Century Anglicanism in Ceylon'
Fr Prof Rajesh Rosario (Mangaluru): 'Behind the Goan schism: A re-examination on the padroado question in India and Ceylon in the nineteenth century'
Dr Wei Jiang (Bonn): 'Luke of Hulsdorf: Dr Pedro Manuel Lisboa Pinto and the ‘Moorish’ community in nineteenth century Colombo'
On November 23, the conference will continue at Buona Monte Church after the Holy Mass.