East Sri Lanka: East Sri Lanka is a different kettle of fish from Jaffna. The Tamils there don’t like the Jaffna Tamils and that was also why the LTTE split with the powerful Karuna Group taking their stand in the east. Furthermore, each of the three communities, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese are a third of the total population of this province.We have had enough of the Norwegians who came here as non-governmental workers and got enmeshed into the political quagmire of the country, the consequences of it has not been good; even disastrous. The Ceynor Project that was founded at Karainagar in the neighbourhood of Vaddukoddai during the early 1970s crashed into shambles. Today, to cut a very long tragic story short, Norway is a supplier of arms and military expertise to both sides of the conflict.
Just desserts, Oslo has serious gang problems from Sri Lankan Tamils mollycoddled by Norwegian non-governmental workers. We do not want the Americans to add to this chaos especially with the interest your colleagues at the UCC have shown with the work in East Sri Lanka isolating it as they want from the JDCSI, and where the situation is quite tricky.
None of your folks will ever take the trouble to understand the east and is most likely to be led by the very person whom they seemed determined to promote. This would be a micro-microcosm of what Washington does on an enormous scale promoting the interests of people who promptly become powerful dictators with American dollar flow and destructive to the wellbeing of the countries they rule with iron boots.
East Sri Lanka: East Sri Lanka is a different kettle of fish from Jaffna. The Tamils there don’t like the Jaffna Tamils and that was also why the LTTE split with the powerful Karuna Group taking their stand in the east. Furthermore, each of the three communities, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese are a third of the total population of this province.
Amidst this an American Mission supported church managed by Jaffna Tamils will be treated as a hostile presence unless dollars were regularly and generously pumped to powerful forces in the province. There are also Anglican and Methodist Churches in this area and they have been there for many years as well as a number of Christian fundamentalist sects, some quite suspect.
When the Rev Sebastian Anthony of the JDCSI made a serious complaint to the police in the area alleging that there was an attempt to molest his wife, he was ignored and it was evident they were heavily bribed. He had the same problem from the Armed Forces, so corrupt are the agents of law and order and so easily they are bought and American dollars seem to be going a long way already.
Are you going to be part of this corrupt structure? At this very moment with so many problems causing disaster and displacement and of course the tsunami tragedy, people need immediate assistance and any source that can help them with shelter and food would be welcome.
Those who eye the dollars to pack their pockets, this is the opportune time for rich midnight yields. Are you going to aid and abet such intentions which I strongly suspect is the hidden agenda of those leading the demand for a split from the JDCSI? They have no doctrinal or canonical differences so why do they want a split?
Court Injunction: You are all, I feel, totally hypnotized by the myth ballooned into epic proportions over the run-up events and incidents leading to the appointment of Daniel Thiagarajah as the JDCSI bishop. Some of you have visualized injustice in this because a court case delayed the process which enabled Daniel Thiagarajah to be eligible for the election.
I am sure the Rev Jeyanesan himself will own up that it was a rather unfortunate conduct of his that brought about the court case because an affected priest was determined to prevent his election as a bishop. He found the grounds he wanted and proceeded with the action to seek justice for an act of serious misdemeanor by a fellow clergyman.
The Rev Anthony who hardly speaks or understand English stunned the sessions of a particular Diocesan Council with a shocking finger-pointed accusation against this clergyman. It must be said that at this time this young priest was not on talking terms with Daniel Thiagarajah because he had caused his transfer from the Central Province where he and his wife were quite comfortable and happy to serve among his people, to the Eastern Province. In other words, he was not serving the interests of Daniel Thiagarajah by seeking a court injunction against the Executive Committee of the JDCSI.
The demand for separation is not the result of some fundamental differences in faith, beliefs and concepts; even on questions of Episcopate or Congregationalism. It was because of the failure of Rev Jeyanesan to become the bishop of the diocese. He needs to take control because during the last ten years he has had a free hand in the east and vast sums of funds intended to meet the needs of victims of all kinds have flowed in and even now the Rev Jeyanesan is campaigning for more in Israel, some European countries and more heavily in the US.
He has to account for all these if he stays within the JDCSI; outside he will be his own master. It is rather sad that Dr Cally Rogers-Witte and her merry colleagues are unable to understand this reality. Even if my contention has no base, such a state of affairs and the demand for split to create a new church is not healthy at all.
The JDCSI Black Rod: The American Ceylon Mission is now an ornament of tradition which is very much appreciated and cherished but only as something necessary perhaps like the Black Rod in the English Parliament or the Queen’s Speech which in reality is not hers but that of the government in office. I don’t think such tradition-based symbolic things exist in the US where McDonald Burghers and Kentucky Fried Chicken, developing national emblems for future generations of Americans to revere and honour, rule the roost. It is better and nicer the ACM remains like the Black Rod and as an icon of love and respect for posterity.
However, I gather the worrisome impression that there are a group of people in the US with some links to Jaffna either through their parents having been missionaries or other connections who seem to feel that the American presence even through proxy must be re-established in Jaffna. I have had an occasion to talk to and also write to Dr Cally Rogers-Witte who seems to have the view that the concerns people like us raise do not matter as long as they have their own contacts who will fall in line with their ideas and intentions without a murmur; the “your obedient servant syndrome.”
It appears some of you who cannot appreciate the union of churches would rather have the church split. This communication to you was necessitated by a report you had published in the Global Ministries website. There was a reference to children from a school who worked hard to collect some dollars by selling bracelets which they themselves had made and this was given to the Rev Jeyanesan who canvasses funds stressing the American Ceylon Mission aspect rather than what really exists, the JDCSI.
I feel such donations should be given to the JDCSI and not to individuals. I am very interested to know whether that particular school had received any acknowledgement from the JDCSI. I have also learnt with great regret you are among the people in the States who are lending support for a group that wants to secede from the JDCSI and that means from the CSI.
People in the US should leave such decisions to us especially since they will not be able to gauge all the factors properly and there would also be a tendency to apply formulas to such issues that are meaningless to us. This was the grievous error Rufus Anderson committed in 1855; even heinous and scandalous I would say.
To Be Continued….
(Victor Karunairajan is a South Asian journalist who lives in Canada. He could be contacted on serendeebam@gmail.com)
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