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Catholic churches to observe “Black Sunday” today
Sri Lanka’s Catholic churches will observe “Black Sunday” today demanding justice for victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.
Parishioners who attend Sunday Services today have been asked to come dressed in black. The colour will signify the Catholic community’s deep sorrow and anguish over the failure to ensure justice for the victims of the Easter attacks even after two years and will also be an expression of the silent protest of the Catholic community, Colombo Archdiocese Communications Director Father Jude Chrishantha Fernando told the Sunday Times.
A special prayer in remembrance of the victims will be recited after Sunday Mass, calling for justice on their behalf. The prayer will be recited at all subsequent church services until justice is served, he said.
Bells in all churches will toll at 8.45am, the moment the first bomb attack took place. Those in church will thereafter hold silent protests within the grounds of their respective churches, while observing COVID-19 health guidelines.
The decision to mark March 7 as “Black Sunday” came after the final report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks was handed over. The Catholic Church had many questions regarding the report because the most important requirement expected of the Commission had not been fulfilled, Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith told journalists on Tuesday when he announced the planned protest.
He said the CoI had been tasked with establishing the perpetrators of the attacks and those who funded and supported them. It had also been tasked with identifying people who tried to interfere in the investigation process to “protect their stooges and friends.”
The Cardinal said these facts had not been made public in the proper sense. He called on the Government to mount a thorough investigation using the findings of the CoI and whatever information had been unearthed by investigation agencies such as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) and the State Intelligence Service (SIS).
The Cardinal said if the Catholic church feels that the Government was not taking concrete action over these matters, they would be forced to call upon the entire nation to protest and join them in solidarity on April 21, the second anniversary of the attacks. This would culminate in a request to all citizens to hoist black flags in their homes, he said.