People from India and Sri Lanka celebrate the feast of St. Anthony on Feb. 24 on on Kachchative Island in Sri Lanka. (ucanews.com photo)
Nearly 2,000 devotees from India traveled by boat to an uninhabited island off the coast of Sri Lanka on an annual pilgrimage to celebrate the feast of St. Anthony on Feb. 23-24.
Most pilgrims to St. Anthony's church on Kachchative Island in Jaffna Diocese were fisher folk from India and Sri Lanka.
Many Indians boycotted the feast last year after the Sri Lankan navy killed a fisherman.
Bishop Justin Gnanapragasam of Jaffna and Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe of Galle celebrated Masses in the Tamil and Sinhala languages respectively.
It was the first time in the event's history that Masses were celebrated in both languages. The leaders who represented Catholics from the north and the south of Sri Lanka respectively said the bilingual aspect of the feast was to promote reconciliation between the Tamil minority in the north and the majority Sinhalese. Mistrust between the ethnic groups still runs high following the end of the country's bitter civil war in 2009.
"Talking about reconciliation alone will not help if we fail to love one another. Let us go home with the message of peace. Let's pray for the people in the North that they will forget the past and live with everyone else peacefully," Bishop Wickramasinghe told pilgrims.
According to Sri Lanka's navy, around 7,500 devotees attended the feast this year.
The Indian fishermen were given special dispensation to attend the feast without visas.
The island was given to Sri Lanka by India in 1974.
