The new Archbishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjith who celebrated his birthday on November 15 has fulfilled two predictions made about him long years ago.
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| Archbishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjith |
When he was a little boy, he had accompanied his aunt and uncle who was a civil servant to Madhu and been an altar-server throughout his stay there. When they were leaving Madhu and his aunt intimated that Ranjith was hoping to become a priest, the then administrator Fr. Alfred Mouille, presenting a statue of Mother Mary to him had said: "I hope one day you will come as Archbishop of Colombo to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Madhu."
The second prediction had been by Fr. Claude Lawrence when young Ranjith was yet a Brother aspiring for priesthood. Some priests had been discussing an issue relating to a parish, with Brother Ranjith listening intently some distance away, when at the end, Fr. Claude had casually said, "Maybe Bro. Ranjith will settle it when he becomes Archbishop one day".
About two decades later he did become Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Colombo and officiated at the Feast of Assumption celebrated after a lapse of three decades recently.
The two predictions were related in the Catholic Messenger recently by its one-time editor Hector Welgampola.
There is a third too -- at the farewell accorded to Bishop Malcolm Ranjith when leaving Ratnapura after nearly six years, Ven. Keselowitigama Tissa Thera, Pirivenadhipathi of the Ratnapura Sri Visuddharamaya had wished that the Bishop would come back as Archbishop once his tenure as Joint Secretary of the Apostolic Commission in the Vatican was over.
We pray that God will bless our new Archbishop and bestow on him His choicest blessings for many years to come. Ad Multos Annos Your Grace. |
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