The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is hopeful that schools will reopen soon for the first time since the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels.

Sri Lankan Catholic officials said Thursday that church-run schools that have been closed since Easter Sunday bombings are expected to reopen next week, and Sunday Masses will resume this weekend if security conditions are appropriate.

Catholic leaders canceled Sunday Masses as Sri Lanka's churches remained closed for a second week for fear of new terrorist attacks after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people.

The "Solidarity Vigil and Interfaith Prayer" event, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis-based Center for Interfaith Cooperation and the Muslim Alliance of Indiana, drew leaders in the city of the Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish and Muslim communities.

Thannamunai, a small village some 140 miles northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, was the place where people defied the ban on Sunday Mass in the wake of the recent terror attacks in the country.

Churches and governments throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly concerned with the continued threats from Isis-inspired groups and persons, given the growing number of church bombings.