On Friday June 14, the 254 victims of the Easter Sunday bombings in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka were remembered at a Mass at St. Lucy’s Church in Campbell in the Silicon Valley area of California. The celebrant was the parish priest of St. Lucy’s, Rev. Mark Arnzen. The St. Lucy’s Choir, directed by Mary Linduska, and organists Glenda Rasmussen and Ruth Kamas, provided beautiful music for the liturgy symbolizing the hope of the Resurrection. The Mass was sponsored by St. Lucy’s parishioner, Jayal Fernando from Sri Lanka, and co-sponsored by the Joseph Naik Vaz Institute which works to keep alive the spirituality and heritage of St. Joseph Vaz, the founder of the present Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. A large Sri Lanka congregation, many of them Buddhists, as well as members of the parish, came to pay their respects to the memory of the victims of these bombing victims.

Fr. Arnzen spoke about the tragedy of worshippers having been killed on their holy day of Easter Sunday in church and touched on the modern wave of terrorism that was sweeping our world. After the Mass, Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Rev. Kannadeniye Santa of the Sri Lankan Buddhist Dharmapala Institute of the San Francisco-Bay Area, spoke about his experiences as a representative of another religion in the U.S. He described the attacks on worshippers and the difficulties Sri Lankans are facing today. At the conclusion of the service, Fr. Arnzen announced that all donations taken at the Mass would be sent for the relief of victims and their families in Sri Lanka. A reception in the parish hall followed.