As more and more civilians cross out of the battle zone in northeastern Sri Lanka to government-controlled areas, Buddhists and Catholics have joined forces to transport truckloads of relief items to the displaced people. “We collected milk powder, toothpaste, rice and eggs from Muslims, Buddhists and Christians,” Akurana Gunarathana, a Buddhist monk, told UCA News. He began his eight-hour journey northward around 3 a.m. March 8 with Buddhist monks and Catholic priests. An estimated 150,000 ethnic Tamils are still trapped in a small patch of Tamil-controlled area in the northeast of the island country . Since 1983, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for independence from the Sinhalese-led government in an effort to establish a Tamil state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The conflict has claimed close to 80,000 lives.
Sri Lankan Refugees in Need of Aid
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Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.
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Inspired by his friend and mentor Henri Nouwen, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S., invites listeners in his Christmas Eve homily to approach the manger with renewed awe and openness.
A Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, by Father Terrance Klein