Film on “Apostle of Sri Lanka” premiered

(August 30, 2010) A film depicting the life of a priest credited with rebuilding the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, had its official premier last week amid year-long celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of his death. “If it wasn’t for Blessed Joseph Vaz there would not have been a Catholic Church here,” said Father Alex Dassanayake, vice-postulator of the National Joseph Vaz Secretariat, which made the film. He was speaking to some 100 guests at the premier of the film on Fr. Joseph Vaz at the Caritas auditorium in Colombo on Wednesday. Some 14 bishops, priests, nuns, lay Catholics, politicians and the movie’s actors attended the event. The film in Sinhala, with Tamil and English subtitles, is aimed at raising public awareness about the life of Father Vaz ahead of his 300 death anniversary on Jan. 16, 2011, Father Dassanayake, told Ucanews. Fr. Joseph Vaz, known as the “Apostle of Sri Lanka,” was born on April 21, 1651, in Goa, in what is India today. He arrived in Sri Lanka as a missionary in April 1687 at a time when Dutch colonizers persecuted Catholics and sponsored Calvinism as the official religion. He travelled throughout the island bringing the Eucharist and the sacraments to clandestine groups of Catholics. He died in 1711 in Kandy. He ws declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1995 at a ceremony in Colombo. The final step is sainthood for which a miracle through the intercession of Blessed Jospeh Vaz has to be approved by the Vatican. The film’s director, Sanjaya Nirmal said he tried to depict the priest’s journey towards sainthood.