The holy statue of virgin Mary,better known as Our Lady of Madu or Madu Matha has been moved amids heavy fighting in nothern Wanni region for the first time in the 400 years of history,Bishop of Mannar Rev.Rayappu Joshop said.
Fighting is intensified for last 48 hours as the army closer to Marda Madu Church one of the most revered catholic shrine in the island.
According to latest situation in the battle field military is about to 1.5km away from the church.All displaced civilians who temporarily sheltered in the church premises left the area amids continues shelling towards the area as military stepped in.
Army blamed that the LTTE using their mortar and artillery pads closer to the church,the claim cannot be verified independently.
"But military was careful to avoid the damages to the holy shrine"bishop of Mannar told media.
Only 04 priests and 03 sisters with 7 civilian helpers were at the church last afternoon and they had fled the area with the statue of Our Lady of Madu,reliable sources confirmed.
They took the statue inside the LTTE held area,for nearly 20km according to military sources.
Army has engaged for more than nine months to reach the sacred area in Madu,which was situated 6km from military FDL when the fight begun.
Friday, April 4, 2008
The statue of Madu moved as fighting intensified
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23 comments:
If its true, the LTTE wants to repeat the Jaffna loss whereby you capture the place but not the item of significance. In the latter case they forced the poeple out of Jaffna, now they have moved the statue. The game now for both Prabha and Mahindha. Hope the statue which has survived 400 years does not get damaged.
Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy
Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace with God.
Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the peace and the statue back to Madu. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of Sri Lanka, foryou were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.
well in a sad way...it will interesting to see what will happen once SLDF captures and secures the Madhu church.
Will the statue be returned from ltte areas back into it's original place or will they be using that also as a bargaining/propaganda chip?
sad state of affairs...
well, this means only one thing...
LTTE defences in the Madhu area are crumbling in the face of heavy SL Army attacks!
Well done boyz...
As a Roman catholic I believe that this is only a statue and it has only historical value.
What we should think is that the people who are suffering there, without any freedom to thank God for there lives. God will answer, those who worship statue and buildings as in the past (Exodus 32: 1-14/ Deuteronomy 9: 6-29). So, now its time to wipe terrorism out there and free the people.
God, please help our military. Praise the lord!
Rayappu Josheph has taken the statue into the LTTE terrorist territory claiming LTTE has shelled the church. He has claimed that army did not shelled but LTTE did.
Lanaka e News
Is he a lunatic or what? It's evident that he wanted to damage the statue and put the blame on Army. Since this was not happened, now he wanted to take the statue into a terrorist bunker and let it destroyed from the Army shelling....
What a pathetic lunatic....!
Where the hell is head of the Catholic church ?
""But military was careful to avoid the damages to the holy shrine"bishop of Mannar told media."
Remember the incident where they were hooting that the SLA was shelling Vakarai hospital, but when it was finally captured it turned out that the hospital was not even scratched? They have said this to avoid the same thing happening again, since it is unavoidable that the shrine area will come under SLA control.
"As a Roman catholic I believe that this is only a statue and it has only historical value."
technically correct but end of the day it's been revered by many people of this land and should be treated with respect...
we can have our own opinions and that doesn't justify messing with other people's sensitivities...
Just like buddhists in SL revere temples and maligawas and bo tress, certain catholics revere this statue..
Thanks perein for that wonderful prayer.
Hopefully the Archbishop will make some serious decisions about the conduct of the pro-terrorist bishop who has been acting as a drunkard for the past so many months.
Once fighting settles, the statue MUST be returned. Else that further proves his terrorism.
ruwani,
i agree. according to the Holy Bible we should NOT be worshipping statues and even should not patronise "shrines".
in fact some christian sects blame catholics for statue worshiping which their compared to anti-christian.
But there is a social and cultural element as well in every religion.
(even in some religions they term as philosophies!!)
anyhow what is right must prevail over evil AT ALL COSTS. There cannot be a compromise between right and wrong.
defecewire,
please remove the offensive remark by vibe.
DW-
I second Moshe Dyan's request.
Please remove that soon as you get a chance.
Yes, please do remove that inane remark by vibe.
Well, at the end of the day, the Bishop will have to reunite the statue with the church. If something happens to it, it is he who would have to answer for it, not the Army. Even the UN is now saying the military has been very professional, although air strikes are launched almost daily, 2-3 claymores go off in LTTE controlled areas daily and 10-20 Tigers go to heaven daily.
dw-
Thank you for the update as well as removing that comment. I'm sure what Vibe has written says the same comment as you said in different wording.
But we do not want others to interpret in wrong manner.
wrong DW 10-20 tigers dont go to heaven they rot in hell.
Perein,
Bro..may god bless you and your family
Srilankan-
Bro, I'm a buddhist who respect all religions like most of us.
I do not belive in God/s. But that prayer is something I wanted to do from Our Lady's point.
Goodie! Now we can plant a great big Budda statue there, like in Trinco.
http://mahavamsa.blogspot.com
Would the baboon remove the statue from Sri Lanka when it is time for VP and the clan to leave the country? Lets see.
One time, I can remember a how a friend in the SLDF told me how quickly VP ran from Jaffna to Mulathivu, when the army cleared Jaffna.
Rover,
the fat pig does not want to die.Its ok for everyone else to die on his behalf.He is just frightened of the pain when the fat in his body catches fire..
"Well, at the end of the day, the Bishop will have to reunite the statue with the church. If something happens to it, it is he who would have to answer for it, not the Army."
exactly... :)
ltte and their stooges are messing up everyday and it's great to see SLDF being very professional and tactful.
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