Kachchativu church feast : Over 1,900 Indian devotees attend

The annual feast of St. Anthony’s Church on the Kachchathivu Island began yesterday, with the first Sinhala service in its history.

The Sinhala service was conducted by the Bishop of Galle, Fr. Raymond Wickramasinghe and the Tamil service was conducted by the Bishop of Jaffna, Fr. Justin Gnanapragasam.

This year’s service attracted 6,182 Sri Lankan devotees and 1,942 Indian devotees, who arrived on the island via 62 boats.

This is in contrast to the zero Indian arrivals reported at last year’s feast, due to alleged shooting of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy.