It was April 21, 2019, Easter Sunday.
On that day, two Catholic churches and one Pentecostal church in Sri Lanka were bombed while the congregations were in worship.
One Catholic church that was attacked was St. Sebastian (Katuwapitiya).
After the blast, at almost every home there was a funeral. In some houses there was more than one coffin. In many families all the members were lost, and there was no one to arrange the funeral. Priests and seminarians had to carry and bury the coffins.
Altogether more than 300 people were killed in the three attacks.
More than 120 people were massacred in St. Sebastian Church alone.
Now more than three years have passed, but the parish is still under a gloomy cloud due to the loss of loved ones and the suffering of the wounded.
Things became worse with the pandemic lockdown.
But we cannot see the mental and psychological agony and damage. It’s not visible like a physical wound.
We as Franciscans are called to heal the wounds of the people and to bring peace through forgiveness. It is challenging because few resources exist to care for so many with psychological issues.
Some survivors still don’t eat properly, some cannot sleep at night, some are still in a psychological coma and suffering from the trauma, and some others have given up hope.
We began trauma counseling sessions for those survivors who need help. Franciscan friars who are qualified to conduct clinical psychological counseling initiated this ministry. When the demand soared, we called for professional counselors as well. Now we have established a life healing center called “Emmaus” to provide trauma counseling for the Easter attack survivors.
We need your help to continue our service, to train our friars in clinical counseling and to pay the professional counselors.
Your generosity makes a huge difference in the lives of those innocent victims.
We thank you in advance, and we pray for God’s blessings for your families and for your well-being.