The annual feast of the St. Anthony’s Church in Kachchativu was celebrated on Saturday. The St. Anthony’s Church which locates in close proximity to the Indo-Sri Lanka maritime boundary line has long been the pinnacle of reverence of both Indian and Sri Lankan Catholic devotees. This was the third annual feast conducted upon the completion of the new church by the Sri Lanka Navy. The Navy assisted the Bishop of Jaffna and District Secretary-Jaffna to organise the feast.
The feast mass was conducted in Tamil and Sinhala. The Tamil mass was conducted by Revd. Father Joshep Lurduraj of India, while the Sinhala mass was conducted by Revd. Father Robinson Wijesinghe.
The occasion was attended by the Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Revd. Dr. Justin Gnanapragasam, Indian Council General in Jaffna, S. Balachandran, Defence Staff Chief Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva, Commander Northern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Meril Wickramasinghe, Senior Naval officers, Tri- Force personnel and the Police personnel. In addition, 6,500 Sri Lankan Catholic devotees and about 2,100 Indian devotees with Catholic dignitaries including sisters attended. The Navy initiated the process of assistance to annual Kachchativu feast in coordination with the Bishop of Jaffna and District Secretary-Jaffna from the first week of February. Accordingly, the Navy provided meals and infrastructure facilities, including electricity, installation of sanitary and drinking water facilities.
Temporary jetties were made ready for people to secure their boats conveniently, and special SLN lifesaving teams and a medical team with a doctor were deployed to ensure the safety of the devotees attending the annual festival.
Religious dignitaries, government officials, VIPs, devotees, local and foreign media personnel, various utensils required for the mass were safely transported to the Kachchativu islet from KKS and the Kurikadduwan jetty by Naval vessels in which Naval medical teams were also ready onboard for any needed treatment.
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