Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists walked together at St Michael Church in capital Colombo to celebrate a workers Mass on May 1. “God is with the poor. Jesus the carpenter’s son was a laborer and the church is a laborers’ church. It should always be committed to the struggle of the workers and the poor,” said Anglican priest Father Marimuthupillai Sathivel, one of the concelebrants of the Mass. He said: “We are urging the government to guarantee life and justice for the poor both in the north and the south with the truth that was brought with the United Nations report on the country’s civil war.” The workers celebrated the mass in all three main languages, English, Sinhala and Tamil with a number colorful cultural events and traditional music, rhymes and rhythms. “It is our conviction that the mass as the symbol and foretaste of God’s Kingdom—the new classless society of the future— must be celebrated with the utmost beauty of color and movement,” said Vijaya Visyasagara, one of the founding member of original workers’ mass in 1958. “We see the importance of unity when all Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus get together for an event of this nature and it is what is important to this country right now,” said T. S. Raja, an upcountry Hindu who had travelled a long way to the capital, Colombo to take part in the workers’ mass. New peace initiatives requestedTamil refugees demand daily MassesChurch urges faster de-mining efforts SR14063