A visionary human rights activist, he also cared for his flock in more ways than one

The July 1983 attacks on Tamils were disastrous for Sri Lanka. Apart from the appalling suffering Tamils all over the country experienced, it caused Sri Lanka to be seen as a pariah state, which has made us an easy object of denigration. Much of this is deserved, but it led too to unwarranted attacks on our efforts to deal with terrorism. This is in marked contrast to the very different approach to Israel by its supporters and though there is no doubt that the comparative indulgence to that country shows double standards, we have only ourselves to blame for the appalling evil of July 1983.

Amongst the less dramatic tragedies of the horrors of 1983 was the fact that they led to the death of the greatest churchman of the Church of Ceylon, Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe, 40 years ago on October 23, “heartbroken at the treatment of his

Tamil brethren, the direct outcome of the tragic impact of race riots in Sri Lanka on his already weak heart”. Those words of his niece, Anila Dias Bandaranaike, are fleshed out in his Wikipedia entry which makes clear his steadfast commitment to social justice, and in particular with regard to the Tamils of Sri Lanka:

“He was much involved in human rights activities from 1971 onwards, and became Chairman of the Civil Rights Movement, protesting against the authoritarianism of J.R. Jayewardene’s government and in particular its attacks on Tamils. He suffered a heart attack in 1981 and was advised to take things slow and had a year in England, where he was in July 1983 when Black July took place. He returned to Sri Lanka and was one of the first leaders to go up to Jaffna, but all this caused another heart attack and he died in October that year.”

The character of Harry in my 1985 novel Acts of Faith is based on him (this being the Bishop, the only character apart from the President, his brother in the book, who was a direct picture of a real individual).

As the reference to 1971 indicates, while supportive of leftwing initiatives, Lakshman had been strongly opposed to the abuses of the 1970 government, a stance which grew more forceful with the greater abuses of the next government. But his commitment to pluralism had been evinced much earlier, as is apparent from the account by Michael Roberts of his approach as chaplain at Peradeniya, a post he took up in 1958:

Central to the convivial strands of Christian interaction from 1958 were two ‘monuments’ – the premises of the Church and Father Lakshman Wickremesinghe. As convivial as inspiring, “Father Lak” developed several modalities of worship and fellowship. In step with the socio-political transformations of that decade and our time in Sri Lanka, he initiated the practice of mixed carol services with Tamil and Sinhala hymns among the usual English ones. It was rendered particularly meaningful by the sheer beauty of the hymnal of expression, the arrangement of space and the religiosity of so many of the student regulars’.

The two articles I have quoted from are both from the Recollections of Senior Friends of the Student Christian Movement of Sri Lanka, a collection of essays published earlier this year which is full of references to his impact. While his socio-political concerns were vital to his vision of his role, he was also deeply concerned about his flock, and sought to expand their outlook to reduce what he saw, and which was in fact the case, as their elitism. Aware of the urban ethos of most of them, he was insistent that they experienced rural life too. Surajith Peiris records that “he organized a work camp for the male SCMers during the long vacation in April 1959. We travelled to Kilinochchi by train and had to sit in a tractor trailer which took us several miles along an unpaved bumpy road to the work camp site…We did eight hours of digging in the blazing hot sun and cooled down in the stream nearby in the evening.” But typically Lakshman seems to have shared in this for the article goes on to say “Each evening Fr. Lak brought us back to our senses and closer to God with Bible Study and Prayer. I cherish those evenings we had with the loving and caring Fr. Lak and the guidance he gave us.”

This also extended to loving personal care as Prof Lakshman Guruswamy notes: “I neglected my studies and was in a panic about failing the exams. Then providentially, Fr. Lakshman visited my house in Kandy and invited me to stay and study in the chaplaincy. I gratefully accepted and I passed my exams. SCM through Fr. Lakshman, thus saved me from a disaster to my career.”

But I will conclude with another aspect of his vibrant interest in those he mentored which extended to all aspects of their lives. A bachelor himself, having decided on celibacy though he had had serious girlfriends both in Ceylon while he was at university and later in England when he was a curate in the East End, he believed strongly in marriage and brought what he thought suitable people together whenever he saw an opening.

Noble Sugunananthan recognizes this when he writes, “True to SCM’s reputation as the ‘Society for Courtship and Marriage’, it was the SCM that brought my late wife Padmini and me together. I was teaching at Trinity College in Kandy when she was in James Peiris Hall, Peradeniya, as the Devotional Secretary of the University SCM. As to what ulterior motive the Chaplain Fr. C. L. Wickremesinghe had when he invited me to help him with a weekly study group programme in the campus, we will never know. It was then that she developed fascination and admiration for my choice of ordained ministry over other careers.”