A Visionary with a Mission and a Missionary with a Vision

The 25th Death Anniversary of His Lordship Bishop Waliwitavidanelage Don Sylvester

‘If there are wise or learned persons among you, let them show it by their good lives, with humility and wisdom’. (James 3:13-18)

These words describe well how late Bishop Sylvester was known and remembered in Galle and beyond. He was a man of kindness, confident in his vision and generosity, an inspirer of hope and generosity in others.

Born on November 26. 1927 in Niripola- Hanwella, he had his early education at St Mary’s School, Niripola, St John Bosco’s College, Kaluaggala and then at St Joseph’s College, Colombo. Having had his priestly training; he was ordained a priest on March 23, 1956 and was appointed the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Colombo before becoming the fourth Bishop of Galle on December 11, 1982. Having served the diocese for a period well over 10 years, he was called to eternal rest on November 9,1995. His 25th death anniversary falls on Nov. 9 and the memories of the person and his missionary zeal is prevalent to this day. Starting his life as a cooperative inspector and then responding to the call of God, he dedicated whole of life without reservation to the mission he willingly embraced.

I remember in the twilight of an evening, in December 1990, His Lordship Bishop Sylvester called me to his office of the Bishop’s House in Galle, and asked me to get ready to go for a service at the infamous Boossa Detention Camp (near Galle) where the young insurgents were detained after the insurrection of 1988/89. These detainees were kept in arbitrary detention pending the hearing of their cases for taking up arms and going against the political establishment of the time. Most of the detentions were extra-judicial and arbitrary where the detainees themselves found it lucky to be alive after going through arbitrary killing by the state. On that day there were around 700 of them crammed into a small hall where Bishop celebrated the Eucharist. In his homily, he preached on the life of Jesus who was himself a revolutionary and emphasized the importance of change by non- violent means and brought up the example of Mahathma Gandhi as a model of change through non -violent means.

After the Eucharist, we had a cup of tea with the Brigadier in charge of the detention camp and in the brief discussion with him, Bishop Sylvester discussed at length the programme for the rehabilitation and release of the detainees into society. Bishop Sylvester was very sombre on our way back and wanted me to develop a programme to visit the camps every weekend. Permission was granted to us to visit not only the youth of the Boossa camp but also thousands of youth in the open air prison close in Koggala. At every opportunity, Bishop Sylvester was available to travel to both Boossa and Koggala and encouraged me all the time to provide relief to the youth. This was one of many examples of how passionate he was to care for the welfare of the youth of the day. He wanted revolution, but non -violently and in a way that witnessed Christian charity through education and training and certainly not violent means. That pastoral example still moves and inspires me.

While serving as a priest of the Archdiocese of Colombo, his missionary endeavour was well exhibited in his untiring efforts shown in and around Pannipitiya, Maharagama, Athurugiriya and Battaramulla in the suburbs of Colombo creating evangelizing communities and building places of worship to God for the newly established communities of these suburbs. He founded Christ the King College in Pannipitiya that has produced great men and women in many fields of excellence in Sri Lanka. His mission to the marginalized communities at Sedawatta in Grandpass is remembered with great appreciation to date by those living in the area.

Bishop Sylvester was a graduate in Pastoral Theology and has a diploma in Religious Education from the ‘Lumen Vitae Institute’ in Belgium. He held the post of National Director for Catechetical mission in Sri Lanka for several years. He pioneered the use of audio-visual aids for religious education in Sri Lanka and oversaw the distribution of visual aids to almost all the churches around the country at a time when communication aids were rare.

In humility and wisdom Bishop Sylvester united his flock with peoples of other faiths with ecumenical zeal with the exercise of Christian charity and understanding. The full record of his good deeds is known to God, but what we do know can fill us with gratitude and hope.

He touched the lives of so many people from many different walks of life. Whoever you were – whatever demographic you fitted into – he cared for you. The diocese of Galle then had 137 mission centres – most of them in estates. The estate apostolate was in the fore front of his missionary endeavour. He dedicated considerable time visiting the people of the estates both in Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces and was particularly fond of visiting Deniyaya with its 27 estates, Ratnapura with some 18 estates, Deraniyagala, Malimboda, Rakwana and Kahawatta – Balangoda parishes and their estate churches. During his tenure as the Bishop of Galle, he built many chapels in the estates, convents, nursery schools and we all have the memories of the warmth, care and compassion we encountered in this man of God. His desire and unwavering efforts to build a bridge across the river at Hiniduma Calvary Shrine to enable easy passage to pilgrims for the way of the cross showed a sheer dedication to a purpose.

We have a tangible example of his work in community building and establishing SIOLL (Secular Institute of Our Lady of Lanka) in Battaramulla. SIOLL Institute was inspired by him to encourage lay participation in ecclesiastical work. He undertook the ambitious project to establish a press at SIOLL, at a time when information technology and large scale printing was rare. He undertook the printing of the Sinhala Bible and was proud to see this work completed. He meditated upon each and every text of the Bible in order to produce an easily understandable and vivid translation for the Sinhala- Tamil faithful. His translation of the Greek word ‘LOGOS’ using the Sinhala word ‘Wakyano’ as its Sinhala equivalent in the Bible was a stroke of genius.

I remember when I visited him in hospital in Colombo immediately prior to his untimely death. Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe was at his bedside caring for him. He was aware of his surroundings and visitors and could easily converse about life. I will always be very grateful that my last visit to see him lying in a hospital bed was as easy, comforting and normal as ever. He asked about the parish, my apostolate and studies; such was the concern he had for those under his ecclesiastical care. But perhaps most importantly for us today – as our source of true hope and real consolation – are not the memories we have of Bishop Sylvester as a Bishop and priest but as a man and human being who centred his life in word and action celebrating the Eucharist. The great human quality of compassion and understanding was always a part of him even in the midst of resistance from his own. That was Bishop Sylvester, the man of God.

Today, I want to express our collective thanks to God and the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka for many graces, especially the grace and joy of knowing Bishop Sylvester. We are ever so grateful to him for the encouragement and inspiration that he gave to many people including me as our Bishop and we kneel before his grave in the Cathedral of Galle with hearts pouring love and gratitude. In the words of the Psalmist, we thank God for the ‘wonder of his being, for all he meant and means to those he loved and those who love him’. Today, however you may have known him, we remember him with our love and prayers to the very edges of the next life, handing him gently into the eternal, merciful, all encompassing, love of God himself.

Rev. Fr Michael Rajendren & Sudharman Perera