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Salutation to Fr. Poruthota
Reaching his 75th milepost in life and his 50th year in missionary service, Rev. Fr. Ernest Poruthota, writer, journalist, lover of cinema and priest who is popular for his outspokenness will be felicitated on August 31 at 6 pm at the BMICH.
The event among other things will mark the publishing of three books which he had, edited and authored and launching of a book about his life edited by Maximus Roy. An outstanding personality and a national figure in Sri Lanka due to his immense contribution towards Catholic Literature and the Sri Lanka Media, among the Catholics he is popular as a priest with progressive and radical ideas. Fr. Poruthota is one of the pioneers in bridging the gap between Christians and Buddhists and his outstanding contribution towards inter-religious harmony is highly appreciated by Buddhists and Christians throughout the country. The Catholic Church of Sri Lanka was able to adapt very smoothly to the national cultural practice after the Second Vatican Council mainly because of the path paved by priests like Fr. Ernest Poruthota who has a deep sense of Sri Lankan Culture. He was a great lover of cinema even during his
days in the Seminary. In 1965 he authored a book titled "Chitrapata
Gena" (About Cinema). He was a founder member of the Film Critics
and Journalists Association of Sri Lanka (FOAC), which was formed
in 1968. He was the founder of the Sri Lanka Branch of the International
Catholic Organization for Cinema (OCIC) now known as SJGNIS. At
present he is the Director of the Catholic Media Centre. Fr. Poruthota
spoke to the TV Times about his life and journey as a priest and
animator of film artistes. Fr. Poruthota: I had a very happy and colourful childhood. I was born and brought up in a village in Marawila where there were lot of things happening around me. I studied in a school where my father was the headmaster. And we had all the activities in education such as exhibitions, film shows and sports meets that all the prestigious schools had. We ran around coconut trees and had occasions to dance and 'Lee Keli'. In addition our school also screened documentary type film which the whole village turned out to see. We had a very educative and attractive audience. TVT: Where did you pick up the liking for writing? Fr. Poruthota: My father was a writer and author of fourteen books and as a small boy I used to follow him to the printing press and was fascinated with the activities there like manual word setting. Each letter being manually arranged my father gave me a great inspiration which rose up to be a writer. There was no tuition yet every student who studied under my father used to come and meet him sometimes after leaving school. This was when they had passed out from the teaching colleges. First I didn't understand this but only later came to know why that every year a whole batch came to visit him. Later on I realised that they had gone for training college and had passed out as teachers. TVT: What is the family background that influenced you to take up priesthood? Fr. Poruthota: Being the eldest in a family of three younger sisters and a brother we were brought up under two different backgrounds. My father a strict disciplinarian was against church politics. He was anti-priest and used to go to church but he never went into the church. I could remember that he used to bring meat and other vegetables and my mother used to send a portion to church after cooking them. So before my father took his meal he used to ask my mother 'Pideni Aralada?' (Has the offering for the devils been sent). That time we did not understand why he said that. However, my mother and grandmother were very devoted Christians and they were happy to send me to the seminary. Initially my father's reaction was not encouraging but later he permitted me to do what I liked. Then there was another obstacle as at that time the eldest joining the seminary was a problem. Everybody questioned who was going to support the family in my absence. But God's wonderful way is that my brother became a graduate and got a job at the ILO from which he was able to look after the family. TVT: How did you become an artist and a lover of
films? TVT: How do you see the two roles being a priest
and an artiste? TVT: Would you call it a part of the missionary
life? TVT: What kind of contribution could cinema have
in leading people to greener pastures? But we encourage the films like 'Water'. We pick up from what is called fading cinema in Sri Lanka and give the OCIC salutation for them. TVT: What is the message you want to share at this juncture of your 75th birthday? Let the bishops know that there are hundreds of Poruthotas in the young priests and the unearthed talent that the Catholic church can be proud of. Let them discover the hidden talents and capabilities of young Priests coming from the national seminary. Among them you can discover hundreds of Fr. Jayakody's, Fr. Poruthotas and Fr. Ignatios Pereras. And I strongly believe that laymen can teach the priests more than the seminaries and bishops put together. This is because the layman is the catholic church. TVT: What have you got to say about Inter-religious
dialogues?
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Born
in Marawila on 31 August 1931 and after completion of the
studies at the St. Aloysius Junior Seminary and National Seminary,
Ampitiya, Kandy he was ordained on February 2, 1957 as a secular
priest and was appointed as an assistant parish priest at
the St. Lucia's Cathedral, Kotahena. Since then he has served
as a parish priest in Dehiyagatha (Ja-Ela), Moratuwa, Pamunugama,
Kelaniya, Dehiwala, Kalamulla, Kotte, Wattala and is presently
attached to St. Anthony's Church Kirimetlyagara, Kadawatha.
