News
Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph passes away
Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph, the first Priest of Eldeniya Parish, passed away yesterday morning. He was 85.
He was a respected religious leader who served as the inaugural parish priest, leaving behind a legacy of faith and service to the community.
On December 19, 1970, the late Thomas Cardinal Cooray ordained Fr. Benedict as a Priest of the Catholic Church at St. Lucia’s Cathedral, Kotahena. Since then he has served as a TV, radio, cinema and print media personality in Sri Lanka.
He was a treasure trove of media experience and knowledge in overall social communications media, whether in print, radio, television or cinema. He was consulted by many media personalities in Sri Lanka as well as Asia.
During his long career as a media personality and a teacher he has served as the Editor of Gnanartha Pradeepaya, the oldest Sinhala newspaper in Sri Lanka, the Director of the Catholic Press and the Social Communication Centre (SCC) in Borella.
He also organised the annual SIGNIS/OCIC Film Awards, and was directly responsible for the Catholic television and radio programmes over Rupavahini, ITN, SLBC and Radio Veritas (RV) Manila.
Fr. Benedict represented Sri Lanka at several Catholic international, worldwide media conferences.
During the eighties and the nineties, Fr. Benedict Joseph was a member of the Sinhala Dictionary Advisory Committee, Catholic-Christian Advisory Committee and Committee for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Tele-drama Script Committee and the Advertisement Inquiry Board of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.
He was a panel member of the Programme Previewers of the ITN and a member of the Sri Lanka Kala Mandalaya. He was the Chief Media Coordinator during the visit of the Holy Father, St. John Paul ll to Sri Lanka in 1995.
Fr. Benedict produced a movie and a serialised tele-drama on the Life of St. Joseph Vaz. He is the first person to produce a TV Studio Mass in Sri Lanka and the person who introduced the bi-monthly TV programme “Supuwatha” which touched on current national and international events in the Catholic Church.
Final rites would be held at the Borella cemetery at 3 pm today.
Based on the prevailing disaster situation and the upcoming festive season, arrangements have been made to provide a nutrition allowance worth Rs. 5,000 to pregnant mothers.
This allowance, which will be provided only once, will be given to pregnant mothers who were registered at maternal clinics on or before 30 November 2025.
The distribution will take place through the Divisional Secretariat offices from 16 December, as a program of the National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.
The Situation Report released by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) at 6:00 AM today (13th December 2025) confirms that 640 persons have died and another 211 persons are missing due to flooding and landslides that took place in Sri Lanka within the past two weeks.
A meeting between representatives of UNICEF and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya was held on the 10th of December at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the discussion, an initial review of the new digitalization policy draft was conducted, and it was emphasized that the new digital policy must be formulated to align with the ongoing education reforms.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the digital policy should be developed in a way that supports all five core pillars of the current education reforms, including curriculum reform, infrastructure development, and administrative restructuring.
It was further noted that the current draft is primarily focused on curriculum-related matters, and the digital policy should be structured to influence the overall education reform process.
Extensive discussions were also held on the importance of digital literacy, NEMIS, the provision of digital infrastructure, and minimizing the existing digital divide.
Attention was also drawn to the gaps in the current teacher training mechanisms , and the Prime Minister stressed the need to reduce paper usage.
The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives Dr. Emma Brigham and Deborah Wyburn, Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Additional Secretary A.B.M. Ashraff, and several other officials.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Pregnant Mothers to receive Rs 5000 Nutrition Allowance in December
640 deaths, 211 missing as at 6:00AM today (13)
New Digitalization Policy draft reviewed
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