Catholic community in Sri Lanka
It was shocked for over 25 years by a furious civil war ended with the mass of defenseless civilians, silent spectator of a bloody and systematic ethnic cleansing and innocent victim of ferocious terrorist attacks and carpet bombing. This is the portrait of a people, the Sri Lankan, who today tries to forget the horror that he saw with his eyes and, among a thousand difficulties, he tries to turn the page. Integration, reconciliation and peace are the key words that are most often used by those who commit themselves to overcoming the ethnic hatred that still, very often, conditions the relations between the inhabitants of the island. Meanwhile, the small Catholic community grows year after year, embracing the different ethnic groups and demonstrating that living together in peace is not only possible, but also the only way to pursue. But with her the hatred of nationalist groups grows and persecutions increase in the comparisons of its followers. At least 30 churches have been attacked in the last 6 months, in a continuous escalation of violence that never seems to stop. By now, more and more groups of radical Buddhists, riding on the country's growing nationalist sentiment, have targeted the two different minority religions: the Muslim and the Christian. The accusations against the two communities, and loudly shouting, are to control the key sectors of the Sinhalese trade and nationality and to try to convert the Buddhist population of the country to Islam or Christianity. The Buddhist monasteries, in fact, have been complaining about the crisis for a long time and risk closing their doors due to lack of state funds and the drastic reduction of offers offered daily by the faithful visiting or praying. In this climate of tension the small Christian community has strengthened and the common faith has become the glue that has united, instead of separating, the two main ethnic groups: Sinhala and Tamil. In fact, there are 1,500,000 faithful, equal to about 7% of the population, belonging to the small Catholic community of the island. Among them also the so-called "burgher", of ancient European descent, but perfectly integrated into the society n from the times of the colonizers. Brotherhood, solidarity and sharing, therefore. And crossing the island from north to south, in a constantly changing landscape, one has the possibility of discovering countless realities of peace and constructive coexistence within Christian communities.
