From News Letter | June | Page 01- 02

NEWS LETTER

DIOCESE OF GALLE – SRI LANKA

FOR CIRCULATION AMONG THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE

JUNE 2011 – VOL 06. N0.06

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:- www.gallediocese.org

 Very Rev. Fr. Nihal Nanayakkara, Diocesan Administrator with the Presbyterium, Religious and Lay faithful of the Diocese of Galle, wish
Very Rev. Msgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe, the Bishop Elect,
God’s choicest blessings as he undertakes this great responsibility of shepherding the flock
of God in the Diocese of Galle !

My Dear Fathers, Brothers & Sisters,
Greetings in the Risen Lord ! 
Let us very humbly thank the Good Lord for the abundant blessings showered upon all of us and for the intercession of our Blessed Mother during the month of May.
We are pleased to announce that we are blessed almost after two years with a new shepherd in the person of Very Rev. Msgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe who is presently teaching at the National Seminary, Kandy. While thanking the good Lord and the Hierarchy, let us pray for the Bishop elect to be able to have a fruitful  Apostolic Ministry.
The Diocesan Vocation Day will be organized with the participation of all the religious serving in our Diocese on Saturday the 11th commencing at 09.00 a.m. with the Holy Eucharist at St. Mary's Cathedral, Galle.  The detailed information and programme have already been sent to you ; so your fullest cooperation and participation with your parish children is very much expected for the success of  it.
The ORDO mentions this month of June as full of great Feasts; please celebrate them with your faithful in a meaningful manner.  The Solemn Feast of the Holy Spirit is on Sunday the 12th.  The period of fifty days of the sacred season of Easter concludes with Pentecost Sunday, when the Church recalls the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, which is the beginning/ birth of the Church, and the start of her mission to all tongues, peoples and nations, namely to continue the very mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ through our humble service. 

 The feast of St. Anthony's Church  at Ganegama will be celebrated on 18th & 19th of this month. 
The Church celebrates the Solemn Feast of CORPUS CHRISTI on Sunday the 26th.  The Cathedral Parish of Galle also will celebrate the same feast on the same day.   The  Priests, religious and lay faithful in the neighboring Parishes are requested to participate in this solemn celebration. 
Today is also the Pope's Day and the theme is "Holy Father, let your Voice resound  amidst all strife". Please remind the faithful to prepare this day's celebrations meaningfully. Awaken them to pray for the Holy Father and for his intentions for the Church.  The hoisting of the Papal Flag could be arranged with the singing of the Papal Anthem before the Holy Mass. 
The 60th anniversary of the Priestly Ordination of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and 27th anniversary of HisExcellency Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Spiteri the Apostolic Nuncio in Sri Lanka will fall on Friday  29th ;  our prayerful wishes for a continued fruitful  Apostolic ministry in Sri Lanka.

May God Bless you and your ministry.

Yours devotedly in Jesus and Mary,

Fr. Nihal Nanayakkara
Diocesan Administrator

From News Letter | June | Page 06- 07

Very Rev. Msgr.Raymond Wickramasinghe

 By the Grace of God

Seventh Bishop
Of the Diocese of Galle

Name in Full:      Raymond Kingsley WICKRAMASINGHE
Date of Birth:      31th August 1962


Parents
   Father: (Late) Frederick Thomas Goldi Wickramasinghe
   Mother: Margaret Therese Thilakaratne

Secular Studies
Primary:        Grades 1-6 at Pilapitiya Primary school, Kelaniya.
Grade  7-11 at Mayurapadha Maha - Vidyalaya, Mawanella.
Secondary: Advanced Level:  Piyatissa Maha Vidyalaya,Kalegana, Galle.
Priestly Formation
Minor Seminary: St. Francis Xavier's Seminary, Kalegana, Galle -from 1977 – 1981.
Pre-Philosophate: “Daham Sevana” , Kalutara ,from 1982-1983.
Major Seminary: National Seminary, Ampitiya, Kandy, from 1983-1989.
Ordination to the Priesthood  
For the diocese of Galle, by the Most Rev. Dr. W. Don Sylvester, the late Bishop of Galle,
on 05th August 1989
Ecclesiastical Studies
B.TH (Rome), S.T.L. (Rome), S.T.D.  (Specialized in Moral Theology at the Alphonsian Academy,Rome – May 2001 – Magna Cum Laude).
Pastoral Assignments
1. 1st Sept. 1989 – 30th August 1990: Assistant Parish Priest at Ratnapura.
2. 1st Sept. 1990 – 17th April 1991: Rector of the Minor Seminary, Galle.
3. 1st May 1991 – 5th January 1992: Assistant Parish Priest at Balangoda.
4. 10th January 1992-18th October 1992: Secretary to the Bishop of Galle (Bishop W. Don Sylvester) and Assistant Parish Priest of St. Mary's Cathedral, Galle.
5. 19th October 1992 – 15th April 1994: Parish Priest of St. Anthony's Church, Rakwana & the Administrator of the Vianney House, Bulutota.
6. 20th April 1994 – 20th June 1996: Secretary to the Bishop of Galle.
7. 25th June 1996 – 25th June 1998: in  - Collegio San Paolo, Rome, for the Licentiate in Moral Theology at the Alphonsian Academy.
8. 1st November 1998 – 30th June 1999: Secretary to the Bishop of Galle.

9. 1st July 1999 – 25th September 2001: in - Collegio San Paolo, Rome for the Doctorate in Moral Theology at the Alphonsian Academy. Defended the Thesis on 5th May 2001.

10. 28th October 2001 – 15th January 2003: Parish Priest of St. Francis Xavier's Church, Kalegana, Galle.
11. 21st October 2001 – 15th March 2002: Director of Caritas-Sed Galle,the Diocesan Centre for  Social and Economic Development .
12. 12th November 2002  The Diocesan Director for Migrants, Health Care Workers, Tourists and Prisons.
13. 16th January 2003 – 2005: Rector, St. Francis Xavier's Seminary, Kalegana, Galle.
14. 26th January 2006 – 11th May 2008:  Parish Priest, St. Mary's Cathedral, Galle Cum  the Diocesan Director for Family Apostolate.
15. 11th May 2008 – to date:  Formator at the National Seminary, Kandy.
16. 27th May 2011 -  Named as the Bishop  of the Diocese of Galle.
          
Other Responsibilities Held:   From 1994 – 2008

o Served as a Councillor and a Consultor of the Diocese.
o Member of the Diocesan Steering Committee and the Finance       Committee.
o Member of the Papal Visit Committee in 1995.
o Represented Sri Lanka as one of the five member delegation of Young Clergy at a Conference organized by the FABC in Philippines in 1994.
o Served as one of the Secretaries at the Synod of Bishops for Asia, in Rome, in 1998.
o Represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Human Rights Commission held in Hong Kong in 2006.
o Represented Sri Lanka in 2007, for BILA-I on family in Pataya, Thailand organized by the FABC.

 Heavenly Father, you sent Jesus to shepherd your people and the Holy Spirit to make your people one.
 Send your Holy Spirit to anoint our  Bishop-Elect Mgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe so that he may continue the work of renewal in the Church and unite our parishes, priests and people in love, truth and wisdom.
Give him a true shepherd’s heart like that of Jesus, that he may give strength to the weak, heal the broken-hearted, console the lonely, bring back the wandering and be a power against the evil of our day.

Amen.

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The Diocesan Youth Retreat - 2011has successfully been completed

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From News Letter | June | Page 11

Catholic Liturgical Calendar - June 2011

1: Memorial of Justin, martyr.

2: Optional memorial of Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs.

3: Memorial of Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs.

5: Psalter III, Easter Week 7. (Memorial of Boniface, bishop and martyr.)

6: Optional memorial of Norbert, bishop.

9: Optional memorial of Ephrem, deacon and doctor.

11: Memorial of Barnabas, apostle. Vigil of the Solemnity of Pentecost.

12: Psalter III, Ordinary Time Week 11. Solemnity of Pentecost.

13: Memorial of Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor.

18: Vigil of the Solemnity of The Holy Trinity.

19: Psalter IV, Ordinary Time Week 12. Solemnity of The Holy Trinity. (Optional memorial of Romuald, abbot.)

21: Memorial of Aloysius Gonzaga, religious.

22: Optional memorial of Paulinus, John Fisher, Thomas More,: Vigil of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

23: Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Vigil of the Solemnity of Birth of John the Baptist.

24: Solemnity of Birth of John the Baptist.

26: Psalter I, Ordinary Time Week 13.

27: Optional memorial of Cyril of Alexandra, bishop and doctor.

28: Memorial of Irenaeus, bishop and martyr. Vigil of the Solemnity of Peter and Paul, apostles.

29: Solemnity of Peter and Paul, apostles.

30: Optional memorial of First martyrs of the Church in Rome. Vigil of the Solemnity of Sacred Heart.

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"Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church"

The account of the event of Pentecost is rich in details: The place "where they lived" -- the cenacle -- is an environment "in the upper room"; the 11 apostles are listed by name, and the first three are Peter, John and James, the "pillars" of the community, already integrated into this new family, no longer based on family bonds but on faith in Christ.

The total number of persons, which was "about 120," a multiple of the 12 of the apostolic college, clearly alludes to this "new Israel." The group constitutes an authentic "qāhāl," an assembly on the model of the first covenant, the community convoked to hear the voice of the Lord and to walk in his ways. The Book of Acts emphasizes that "all of them devoted themselves with one accord to prayer" (1:14). Prayer, therefore, is the principal activity of the nascent Church. It is through prayer that she receives her unity from the Lord and allows herself to be guided by his will, as the decision to cast lots for the one to take Judas' place shows (cf. Acts 2:25).

This community found itself gathered together again in the same place, the cenacle, on the morning of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, a feast of the covenant, in which there was commemorated the event on Sinai where, through Moses, God proposed that Israel be his property among all the nations, to be a sign of his holiness (cf. Exodus 19). According to the Book of Exodus, that ancient covenant was accompanied by a terrifying sign of power on the part of the Lord: "Mount Sinai," one reads there, "was all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently" (Exodus 19:18).

We find the elements of wind and fire again at the Pentecost of the New Testament but without the resonances of fear. In particular the fire takes the form of tongues that come to rest upon all the disciples, "who were all full of the Holy Spirit" and on account of that outpouring, "began to speak in other languages" (Acts 2:4). We have here the community's true "baptism" with fire, a kind of new creation. At Pentecost the Church is not constituted by a human will, but by the power of the Spirit of God. And it immediately appears how this Spirit gives life to a community that is at the same time one and universal, thus overcoming the curse of Babel (cf. John 11:7-9). Only the Spirit, in fact, which creates unity in love and in the reciprocal acceptance of diversity, can liberate humanity from the constant tension of an earthly will-to-power that wants to dominate and make everything uniform.

"Societas Spiritus," society of the Spirit: This is what St. Augustine calls the Church in one of his sermons (71, 19, 32: PL 38, 462). But already before him, St. Irenaeus formulated a truth that I would like to recall here: "Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every grace, and the Spirit is truth; to distance yourself from the Church is to reject the Spirit" and thus "to exclude yourself from life" (Adv. Haer. III, 24, 1). Beginning with the event of Pentecost, this connubium or "marriage" is manifested between the Spirit of Christ and his mystical body, that is, the Church.

Courtesy:- http://www.pontificalorientalinstitute.com/news/catholic-world/benedict-xvi-pentecost-homily.html

From News Letter | June | Page 12

Msgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe meets the Galle Diocesan Presbyterium

Msgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe, the Bishop elect met the Priests of the Diocese of Galle at the Bishop's House on Wednesday 01st June 2011. He was accompanied by Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Spiteri, the Apostolic Nuncio in Sri Lanka. All the Priests working the Diocese gathered at the Bishop's House to welcome the Bishop elect. Very Rev. Fr. Cammilus Cooray conducted a brief prayer service invoking the blessings of the Holy Spirit upon the new Bishop. The Apostolic Delegate shared a reflection based on the Conciliar document 'Christus Dominus', on the importance of the relationship between the local Bishop and his Presbyterium. At the meeting Msgr. Raymond Wickramasinghe expressed his desire to have his Episcopal Ordination at St. Mary's Cathedral Galle on 31st of August 2011.

Fr. Jude Sampath Wilegoda

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Rev. Fr. Sampath Wilegoda - Secretary - Bishop’s House - Galle

Tel:- 091 2234256 - 091 5452492 Mobile 077 8115003 Fax 091 4385602

Email:- bishopsecri@gmail.com