The Social Justice and Sustainable Peace Unit emphasizes on work towards promoting peace processes, social cohesion and an all-inclusive society to the nation at large. In the context of the present instability in the country due to heightened tension between races and political unworthiness, reliable processes of peace and conflict mitigation is of great importance. Caritas Sri Lanka has recognized the above and has assembled vast sums of resources through 4 major projects, to be a guiding light towards empowering the people of Sri Lanka across all religions and races, to bring back human dignity, encourage human life and contribute to establish Gospel values. The Social Justice and Sustainable Peace Unit works through 1. Religious Amity 2. Healing and Reconciliation, 3. Helping People move towards Reconciliation and 4. AGIAMONDO Peace Initiatives to fortify the Unit’s goal to “create a conducive atmosphere for a just and violence free society where people will be living in peace and harmony by respecting the diverse natures of different ethnic and religious groups and their cultures”
Rev. Father Mahendra Gunatilleke was ordained to Catholic Priesthood on 25th July 1992 in the Arch Diocese of Colombo. Since then, he had served at many parishes. He also served as the director and editor of the messenger newspaper at the Catholic press in Colombo. At the plenary meeting held by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference…
We are a generation in this country who have been witnessing unending uprisings, upheavals, and horror that havocked our beloved nation. We have lost thousands of our brethren in somebody else’s ideology that led to hypocrisy, tyranny and terror. Our brethren who sacrificed their lives would have never thought that their endeavors – the reform…
Sri Lanka, a country that suffered a recent genocide (2019 Easter Terror Attack), two major youth insurrections, and a 30 years of civil war, is now facing an unprecedented set of economic challenges. The causes of the present economic crisis are primarily attributed to the collapse of revenues generated from tourism that was completely deterred…
Sustaining interreligious dialogue in a persuasive manner has been a pressing need of the time. Examining the trends of interreligious dialogue requires continuous review, learning, and reflection. Hence, Caritas Sri Lanka in consultation with the Secretariat of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue convened a lecture and experts’ discussion, on 23rd January 2022, on…
Caritas Sri Lanka, the social arm of the Catholic Church has been instrumental in promoting sustained relationships through justice, peace & reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Our initiatives have focused on ensuring greater inclusion of vulnerable communities in social, political and economic life; access to quality basic services; freedom without exploitative practices; ability to voice their…
Caritas Internationalis celebrate its 70th Anniversary today, and it has passed seven decades since the constituent assembly of Confederation met in Rome from 12 to 14 December 1951. During the early years there were only 14 caritas members in the confederation while today there are 162 operating in 200 countries and territories. Since its inception,…
Responding to the cry of the planet is an urgent call for action. Caritas Sri Lanka collaborated with The British Council Sri Lanka, to conduct workshops in the Diocese of Chilaw focusing on Climate Action using Active Citizens methodology. The workshops were conducted in two batches from 1st March to 6th March 2021 and from…
Caritas Sri Lanka is an organization which reaches out to uplift the lives of people in a holistic approach. We are concerned about the financial, social, psychological and spiritual aspect of every individual we serve and right now it is an urgent need to respond to the cry of the planet which is being destroyed…
A recent revelation in Jaffna to restore lost friendship between the north-south, Sinhala-Tamil communities during the thirty years of war and to maintain the peace that has been won took place with the launching of a Tree Planting Campaign initiated by Caritas Sri Lanka, the social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka.…
A Study session was conducted by Caritas Sri Lanka on creating awareness on the new constitution of Sri Lanka in Sinhala medium on a virtual platform. It was organized by the Social Justice and Sustainable Peace unit on 18th November 2020 from 9.30 a.m.to 11.45 a.m. This session was organized mainly to create awareness and…
Based on the Position Paper prepared and circulated by Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC to guide the public on the importance of electing the right candidates as members of the new Parliament, Caritas’ Diocesan Centers Island wide have organized several awareness programs and panel discussions to educate voters. Some of these sessions involved the local…
On 10 June 2020, Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya confirmed that the postponed parliamentary elections will be held on 5 August 2020 with strict health measures and guidelines. Out of the total population of 22 million, 16.2 million are eligible to cast their vote to elect 225 members for the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Caritas Sri Lanka –…
‘Claretian Peacebuilding Initiatives–Sri Lanka’ (CPISL) organized a week-long ‘Peace Building Training Workshop’ at Gnanodayam, Mannar from 25th to 30th November, 2019. Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC was represented as well as like-minded organizations such as National Peace Centre, Centre for Communications Training, SJV Chelvanayakam Memorial Trust etc. In total 30 participants attended the well laid-out sessions conducted…
Caritas Sethsaviya Anuradhapura organized the first gathering of Sunday School Teachers representing Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and Muslim Communities on 10th and 11th of November 2019. More than 50 Sunday School Teachers gathered to discuss and explore the possibilities of mutual cooperation, empowering personal spirituality and reflected on what would be the best way to pass…
Caritas diocesan directors and accountants from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Mannar, Trincomalee and Vanni attended the ‘District Coordinators’ Meeting’ organized by PAFFERL which was held on 1st November 2019 at Renuka City Hotel, Colombo 3. The objective of the meeting was to explain the duties and responsibilities to officials who will be involved in Presidential election monitoring.…
A five day Training Programme was held at Caritas Centre in Chilaw under the ‘Expansion of Religious Amity Programme 2019 – Enhanced Youth Participation’ from 28th October to 01st November, 2019. The theme of the training programme was ‘Youth for Ethnic and Religious Harmony through Social Media’ where 58 enthusiastic youth from Chilaw, Colombo and…
Chairman of the National Election Commission of Sri Lanka has announced that the Presidential Election will be held on 16th November, 2019. Out of the total population of 22 million, 16 million are eligible to cast their vote to elect the new, 08th President of Sri Lanka. Reading the signs of the times in the…
Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director of Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC had invited a few professionals and intellectuals along with a few senior priests on 16th September, 2019 for a consultation to develop a ‘Position Paper’ to draw guidelines to the members of the Christian institutions and churches on choosing an appropriate candidate for the forthcoming…
Caritas Norway organized a pastoral solidarity visit to Sri Lanka with a delegation of 10 persons representing the Catholic Church of Oslo, Lutheran Church of Oslo, Interreligious Dialogue Forum of Oslo and Caritas Norway from 13th– 18th August 2019. The visit was jointly facilitated by Caritas Sri Lanka SEDEC and the National Christian Council of…
Mr. Aron Halfen, Programme Adviser of Caritas Norway visited Sri Lanka on 13 August 2019 to review the progress of the island-wide Religious Amity and Food Security Programmes supported by NORAD, through Caritas Norway. Mr. Aron has made a visit to Jaffna and met with the families who are beneficiaries of the “addressing causes for…
