Churches recovering from Easter bombings in Sri Lanka
Mass attendance at one of the churches worst affected by the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka is 80 percent back to normal, according to the parish priest, who says a leading Catholic charity’s help is proving crucial for people’s recovery from trauma and bereavement, Aid to the Church in Need United States reported.
In an interview to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Father Jude Fernando, rector of St Anthony’s Shrine, Colombo, thanked the organization for providing counselling services for victims of the bomb blasts on April 21, 2019, which killed at least 250 people and maimed more than 500 others.
Father Fernando said for many of the victims the road to recovery has been slow and painful. In response, ACN funded 40 certified therapists to help people, including the bereaved and a further 300 specialists have been trained with the charity’s support to provide psychological help for 2,000 people, adults and children.
Father Fernando went on to praise Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, for his steadfast support of the faithful in their grief and his calls for those responsible for the blasts to be brought to justice.
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Photo: St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
