Bishops of Church of Ceylon of Dioceses of Colombo and Kurunegala issue statement on COVID-19

• Urge not have common worship on Sundays in churches until further notice

Following is a Special Joint Statement by the Bishops of the Church of Ceylon of the Dioceses of Colombo Rt. Revd. Dhiloraj Canagasabey and Kurunegala Rt. Revd Keerthisiri Fernando on the risk of the spreading of new coronavirus (COVID19):

Colombo Rt. Revd. Dhiloraj Canagasabey and Kurunegala  Rt. Revd Keerthisiri Fernando

“Our dear sisters and brothers in Christ, we write to you at a time when the entire world including our nation is going through a very anxious time due to the spreading of the coronavirus. Please be assured of our prayers at this time, for you to stand strong and tall in your faith, trusting that the Lord who holds the entire universe in His hands is holding yours and ours too.

“Church is a sacred place consecrated for worship and His Presence is to be experienced there in a very special way. It is the church to which people ran to in times of national calamities. When trains are sardine packed, when buses overloaded with passengers, and super markets are packed with people panic buying, it was not a rational decision to keep away from worship. Hence we instructed you to hold worship services last Sunday and many of you did so. While we realise the importance of gathering together in worship to plead unto God to have mercy upon us, to forgive us of our sins and to heal our dear nation and the world at large from this virus, we Christians should not be found to be not co-operating with the State to combat this deadly virus.

“Now that the State has declared public and mercantile holidays till Thursday to minimise the movement of its citizens, we the Bishops of the Church of Ceylon urge you not to have common worship on Sundays in your churches until further notice to cooperate with the State to mitigate this situation. We urge you to keep your churches open for people to come to in small numbers at their discretion for private prayer if they wish to do so and for personal pastoral ministrations to be offered by the clergy as and when necessary. However, may we request that you please take extra health care precautions as recommended by the Public Health Department to mitigate this crisis until it is brought under control?”