Pope appoints two auxiliary bishops in Sri Lanka

(November 28, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday appointed two new auxiliary bishops to the Archdiocese of Colombo, in Sri Lanka. Fr. Fidelis Lionel Emmanuel Fernando, the vicar for the Tamil Catholics of Colombo Archdiocese and Fr. Sampathawaduge Maxwell Grenville Silva, Principal of St. Thomas College, Kotte, Colombo, are the new auxiliary bishops. With these two, the Archdiocese of Colombo headed by Cardinal Ranjith Malcolm now has three Auxiliary Bishops, including Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Marius Joseph Peiris, appointed in 2000.
Fr. Silva was born on May 20, 1948, in Jaffna, a predominantly Tamil speaking region in the north. After completing his studies at St. Aloysius minor seminary in Colombo, he entered national major seminary in Kandy for his philosophical studies. He proceeded to Rome, Italy, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Theology and licenciate in moral theology from the Pontifical Urban University. He was ordained priest in the Vatican by Pope Paul VI on Jan. 6, 1973. While teaching at the Major Seminary of Kandy from 1978 to 2001, he obtained a doctorate from the Catholic University of Washington in the United States. He has been vice-rector and rector of the national seminary of Kandy, and was in charge of catechesis and family apostolate in Colombo. Since last year he has been assigned the pastoral care of Tamil Catholics of the archdiocese.
The other new auxiliary bishop designate, Fr. Sampathawaduge Maxwell Grenville Silva, was born on Sept. 27, 1953, a Willorawatte, in Colombo Archdiocese. After attending Colombo’s minor seminary he proceeded to national seminary in Kandy for his philosophical and theological studies and was ordained a priest on July 25, 1981. He served in three parishes of the capital and later taught at St. Joseph’s College and Basilica College. Since 2001 he has been principal of St. Thomas’ College, Kotte.