Bishop-elect Cletus Chandrasiri Perera has gone to Rome for his episcopal ordination, saying he wants to avoid the great fuss and local expense of a ceremony in Sri Lanka at a difficult time.

"I would like to have my consecration in Rome, in a simple ceremony with one or two people," the bishop-elect for Ratnapura diocese told UCA News before flying to Rome for the scheduled July 11 ordination ceremony.

"I don't want to waste the money and time of the people" on a "mere external transition," he said, given that they "are suffering a lot."

With the civil war and economic hardship in his country, the Sylvestro-Benedictine priest felt the cost of hosting a large celebration in Ratnapura would be too high.

Instead, he said, there will be a "simple ceremony" at the Church of Twelve Apostles in Rome, where he will be ordained by Bishop Vianney Fernando, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Father Perera the third bishop of Ratnapura diocese on May 4. He plans to formally take charge of the diocese on July 28 with a simple ceremony at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ratnapura, about 100 kilometers southeast of Colombo.

Father Milton Wickramasinghe, the cathedral parish priest, told UCA News, "We have planned to welcome him very warmly in a simple way as he wishes, but with a solemn liturgical service."

Father Nandana Manatunga, parish priest of St. Mary's Church in the bishop-elect's former diocese of Kandy, described him as "a man for the poor" and said he wanted "to have a very simple ceremony" and begin his work. According to Father Manatunga, a public ordination in Sri Lanka would cost the Church 1 million rupees (US$10,000).

Laypeople told UCA News they wanted to offer the new bishop a suitable welcome but understood his reasons.

Theobold Samaratunge, a cathedral parish council member, said the bishop's reasons had been announced. "We would have liked a big ceremony, even if we are a poor diocese with few Catholics, but we respect his wishes," he told UCA News by telephone.

Neetha Fernando, 52, a diocesan lay counselor, told UCA News the new bishop is "simple and different." She said they were preparing to receive him, "a great event for a poor diocese," but respected his wishes.

Ratnapura diocese, which was carved out of Galle diocese in 1995, has 20 parishes and 21,855 Catholics, served by 25 priests and 77 Religious.

Bishop-elect Perera said his work will be difficult in what he termed a "developing diocese" where Catholics are few.

The diocese has been without a bishop for nearly 28 months. On Jan. 20, 2006, the pope named Father Ivan Tilak Jayasundera as the new Ratnapura bishop. However, the 46-year-old bishop-elect resigned before taking office due to poor health.

The former bishop of Ratnapura, Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Galle, was named apostolic administrator. The first bishop of the diocese, now Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith, 59, currently serves as secretary of the Rome-based Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Bishop-elect Perera has chosen as his episcopal motto Per Crucem Ad Lucem, which means, "through the cross to the light." His colleagues say he prays the way of the cross daily to contemplate the passion of Jesus.

He was born Sept. 6, 1947, in Seeduwa, in Colombo archdiocese. He joined the Order of Saint Benedict (OSB) in 1964 and was ordained a priest on Aug. 4, 1973. He studied in Rome 1978-81 and obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of the University of St. Anselmo.

In 1984, he was appointed parish priest of Wahacotte, in the central diocese of Kandy. He later served as vicar general of the diocese for eight years. He worked on justice and peace issues, and during his service in Kandy was director of the diocesan pastoral center, diocesan youth coordinator and general manager of Catholic private schools.

UCAN

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Two and a half years after the tsunami, and unprecedented assistance from donors to Sri Lanka’s hard-hit fishing industry, some fishermen are still struggling to fully restore their livelihoods.

The government’s Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), said that of the over 19,000 boats destroyed by the tsunami, 90 per cent had been replaced and fishermen were now catching 70 per cent of what they did prior to the tsunami.

“Everything was destroyed here - boats, nets, storage rooms,” Hemal Nanayakkara, a fishermen in Hambantota District, told IRIN. “We’ve managed to get our boats and some of our fishing gear back and we’re trying to do the best with what we’ve been given.”

A host of international and local donors committed some US$97 million to restore the fishing industry, according to RADA.

Shortage of large boats

Despite the high recovery rate in the fishing industry, gaps remain. For example, by December 2006, less than 30 per cent of the 187 large-tonnage fishing craft had been replaced, according to RADA. The big ships are capable of multi-day fishing along the deep water shoals and accounted, pre-tsunami, for a third of the overall catch in Sri Lanka.

While there is a shortage of such large boats, some fishing authorities, and fishermen themselves, are concerned that too many smaller boats were distributed by well-meaning donors.

“We have found that in certain tsunami-affected areas, there is an excess of small fishing boats lying on the beaches when compared to the pre-tsunami period,” a senior fisheries consultant for the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Leslie Joseph, told IRIN.

Donors causing overfishing?

RADA estimates that an excess of over 3,000 small craft were donated, and now too many such boats compete for shallow-water fish. “The over-supply of one-day boats has caused exploitation of fishing resources.”

Fishermen throughout southern Sri Lanka are feeling the effects of such over-fishing, with earnings hit hard.

Kumar Sinnathambhi, a 14-year-old fisherman from Hambantota District, told IRIN he and his uncle sometimes earn as little as Rs. 2,000 (US$180) per month fishing in shallow waters with their paddle canoes.

“Some days we don’t catch any fish at all,” says Kumar, who dropped out of school and became a full-time fisherman at 12, after the tsunami killed his parents and destroyed his house. Kumar and his four-year-old brother share a small shack with their uncle, who has two children of his own. However, as the uncle can barely feed his immediate family, Kumar is the sole provider for his younger brother and himself. Making ends meet is an increasing challenge not just for the young fisherman but for his uncle as well.

Lured into fishing

Kumar is typical of many new fishermen in coastal Sri Lanka who were lured to the trade in the aftermath of the tsunami because of the easy availability of boats and other fishing resources. Now they are overcrowding the local fishing industry. “It’s not difficult to get canoes here, particularly after the tsunami,” said veteran fisherman Hemal Nanayakkara. “You see, there are still so many of them lying around, some not even being used.”

A recent FAO survey (details below) has shown that less than half those in receipt of boats were not genuine fishermen or did not own a boat before the tsunami.

Nanayakkara also said that while donors readily provided boats, the same was not true for fishing gear. “It’s been a bit harder to get the right type of nets,” he said.

FAO survey

Getting fresh information on the post-tsunami fishing industry is difficult as no recent in-depth studies are available or being conducted, according to Joseph. But an FAO survey, Recovery Assessment in the Fisheries Sector, carried out one-year after the tsunami, found some gaps in the provision of nets and other fishing gear. Only 28 per cent of the required nets had been given to fishermen in need, according to the survey. In addition, 63 per cent of those boats that had been replaced or repaired post-tsunami had no fishing gear and with the 19 per cent of those that did, the owners found the gear inadequate.

RADA, however, in a November 2006 report, cites some progress, saying that 70 per cent of all nets needed had been distributed.

In addition to concerns about a surfeit of small boats, there have been complaints that some of the donated boats were not up to standard as they were manufactured too quickly. “A lot of the boats were of poor quality and had to be replaced,” Joseph told IRIN. “Some of them could only be used for a few months.” The FAO survey found that 18.9 percent of the new boats given to tsunami-affected fishermen were not seaworthy.

RADA and FAO have also received complaints that some fishermen had not received boats at all. “There have been some equity issues particular to this sector (fishing), for example, some genuine fishermen have not received boats,” the RADA report stated.

The FAO survey found that only 46 per cent of the recipients island-wide were genuine fishermen. Of the 13,000 craft that had been distributed by early 2006, “over 7,100 boats are in the hands of those who did not own boats before the tsunami,” the survey said.

FAO and other agencies said that while funding constraints increasingly exist, they continued to provide limited support to the redevelopment of the fishing industry. In FAO’s case, the current focus is to bring the larger-tonnage fleet to its pre-tsunami level. “It is a very expensive proposition, however, with an engine alone costing Rs 1.5 million (US$136,000).”

Source: IRIN
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