I refer to Clive Anthony’s (CA) tract on the ‘Origins of Catholic Faith in Sri Lanka’ (Sunday Island, 20 September, 2009). Though some of the references he makes regarding earlier manifestations of Christian presence in Sri Lanka are not to be summarily dismissed, his adverse comments about Gaston Perera’s book "The Portuguese Missionary in 16th and 17th Century Ceylon" are reducible to a misguided emotional response superimposed on the core of Catholic faith.

CA must realise and appreciate the fact that relevance is of essence in rational argument. His arguments run as follows: "Here he assumes that Catholic Missionary activities started in 1543 after the arrival of Franciscans, and Roman Catholicism was introduced thereafter…I think Mr. Gaston Perera is not aware of this… All this time Catholics were blamed for all the misdeeds done by the Portuguese and are considered descendents of those belonged to an alien religion... It is very strange that Mr. Gaston Perera is not aware of these findings; the reliability of the research done by him is therefore questionable…I hope researchers like Mr. Perera will widen their scope of research in this field and strengthen the assertions forwarded by Archbishop Gomis and vindicate Catholics of baseless accusations…".

The major flaw in CA’s argument is one of ‘non sequitur’; better expressed in Sinhala as ‘koheda yanne? Malle pol!. Careful reading of his book will show beyond any doubt that Gaston Perera (GP) has not made any disparaging comments about Christianity in general or Catholicism in particular. The subject of inquiry in his book, as revealed by its title, is limited to an investigation of the reprehensible conduct of Portuguese missionaries during a precisely defined period. He has by no means aspired to trace the origins of Christianity/Roman Catholicism in Ceylon.

A writer is by no means obliged to stretch his frame of research to accommodate fringe idiosyncrasies of an individual or a group of individuals or to strengthen assertions made by a religious dignitary. I say this with due respect for the Emeritus Archbishop of Colombo, Oswald Gomis, who by his very calling would be naturally disposed to investigate the historical deposit of his faith, not only ab ovo but also in extenso. This faith-based compulsion cannot be mandatorily imposed on others who engage in historical research.

I must make it very clear that Catholics have not been treated as descendents of the Portuguese and therefore have not been blamed for the misdeeds of the latter, except, perhaps, by some guilt-ridden fanatics. In these circumstances there was no need on the part of GP to have vindicated accusations purported to have been made against Catholics. To be weighed down by the burden of guilt for misdeeds committed by one’s ancestors or colonial sponsors is a misplaced interpretation of the purely allegorical sense of original sin; namely that of man being inherently prone to sin but by no means culpable for the sins committed by Adam and Eve.

The notion of the linear continuity of apostolic succession and heredity are not to be treated as grounds for imposing moral culpability on posterity. Catholics/Christians are by no means guilty of the sins committed by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and even some Popes, though some Catholics at different points in history and even today may be ridden with guilt because they still applaud the methods used by these colonial marauders to enforce their lifestyles and beliefs on peoples colonized in ages past.

No religion can be said to be alien for the very simple reason that most religions have spread out from the places where their founders were born and where they expounded their Gospel/Dhamma: Jesus Christ in Palestine and the Buddha in India. The line of thinking that runs through CA’s guideline for writers compels me to make the following observation. The pristine purity of the person and teachings of Jesus Christ cannot be tarnished by the conduct of those who claim to be his ardent followers, be they Romans, Portuguese, Sri Lankans, errant popes or bishops or lay preachers. The same standard applies to the Buddhist Dhamma. What matters is not ritual, rubric or prohibitions laid-down by a rigidly structured institution but a naturally manifested scale of life-affirming, moral and aesthetic values, dispersed with the pollen of parables and intimate discourses.

The reference to the visits to Sri Lanka of Jordanus Catalha de Severac and Giovanni de Marignolli, the emissaries of Pope John XXII is used out of context by CA in an attempt to relieve the burden of guilt that is imputed to weigh heavy on the collective conscience of Catholics. It is used as a deus ex machina in reverse.

Is it CA’s thesis that all Sri Lankan Catholics are descendents of the Catholics who were converted in spiritu by Severac and Marignolli and their retinue and are therefore not guilty of the unethical methods employed by Portuguese missionaries? References to these two visits were recorded by others long before Bishop Gomis brought them to light in his book "Some Christian Contributions in Sri Lanka".

John XXII (James d’Euse), of French origin, held the office of Pope in the period 1316-1334. This was within the period (1309–1377) when the papal headquarters were located in Avignon, due to the turmoil that prevailed in Rome. John’s tenure of office was a troubled by heresies, tensions between the Church and the State, and turbulence within the Franciscan order. It is recorded that he sent a Dominican, Friar Bishop, Jordan (Jordanus Catalha [sounds Portuguese] de Severac) as a papal legate to the Christians of South India. Though there is no specific mention that he extended his visit to cover Ceylon, it may well be that he did so, without engaging in the type of ecclesial belligerence that characterised the Portuguese missionaries. A Chinese delegation is supposed to have visited Pope Benedict XII - who succeeded Pope John XXII - at Avignon in 1338. The Pope is said to have reciprocated this gesture by sending Franciscan Bishop, John de Marignolli as legate to Peking. Bishop Marignolli is reported to have returned to his headquarters, fifteen years later, after visiting Tartary, China, Persia, Ceylon, Java and Malabar. (Source: ‘A Dictionary of the Popes’, compiled by Donald Attwater, Catholic Book Club, London, Burns & Oates, 1939).

Another article in ‘The Island’ (21 September, 2009) titled ‘Annual Feast of Sinthathirai Maatha at Chaddy, Kayts includes the following statement "His Holiness Pope John XXII solemnly established a Diocese in the City of Colombo on 5th April 1330 and appointed Jordanus Catalha de Severac, a French Dominican as the first Bishop of Colombo. Who was the second bishop and what was the interval between their episcopacies? In this article it is also stated that St. Thomas, the Apostle visited Ceylon on his way to China. Reference is also made to a stone cross found in Anuradhapura. When Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople in the period 428-431 was deposed and banished from the Roman Empire on a charge of heresy brought against him by the Council of Ephesus (431), his followers, through fears of persecution, emigrated to Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia and India.

References to the Nestorian Cross and the visit of St. Thomas (Apostle) to India are closely linked to the diaspora Nestorians, who later modified their doctrinal positions assuming names such as Jacobites and Chaldeans. I neither dismiss these claims as legends nor accept them as accurate historical accounts. As far as I am concerned these claims neither detract from, nor enrich Christian faith as grounded on the Gospel, which in my view is a rite of passage from here to eternity that is paved with the cobblestones of moral rectitude, acceptance of the human predicament and compassion of man for man. I urge my friend Haris de Silva to shed some light on these claims.