Church attacked after Sunday Mass

Catholics have taken to the streets to demand more security after a church in Colombo archdiocese was attacked for the third time in as many years.

Catholics protesting the attack on the church

An estimated 200 people armed with an assortment of weapons stormed into Our Lady Rosa Mystica Church in Croos Watta, in the Ja-ela area, on Dec. 6, soon after the 7 a.m. Mass finished.

The mob, suspected to be Buddhist extremists, set about smashing construction materials and the interior of the church. Witnesses said they also tried to attack the priest, who managed to flee with parishioners. The mob then set fire to the priest’s car. No one was injured in the incident.

As news of the attack spread, around 500 local Catholics protested by blocking the nearby main road. They demanded that police arrest those responsible for the assault.

Father Jude Lakshman, the parish priest, attributed the attack to “fear among the majority Buddhists of the increasing number of Catholics in the area.”

Media reports said a nearby Buddhist temple had been attacked, but Father Lakshman denied the report.

Parishioner Andrew Anthony, 48, noted that a Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a police decision to ban construction work to enlarge the church and services at it. Construction and services had only recently resumed when the attack took place, Anthony pointed out.

The charred remains of the parish priest’s car following the attack

The church was attacked twice earlier, also by suspected Buddhist extremists. In 2006, an armed mob vandalized a statue of the Blessed Mother. In 2007, all statues in the church were destroyed.

“It is our vow to complete reconstruction whatever the difficulties,” asserted Samantha Perera, a farmer.

Riot police and navy and air force personnel were called in to prevent any further clashes in Croos Watta, about 25 kilometers north of Colombo. More than 300 Catholic families and 350 Buddhist families live there.

“Tensions remain high,” Father Lakshman reported on Dec. 7.

At the time, police had made one arrest in connection with the attack.

A police spokesman, Senior Superintendent I.M. Karunaratne, tried to reassure the protesters by promising the attackers “will be brought to book.”