Cardinal asks Catholic lawyers to remain politically independent

By Normaan Palihawadane

Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has called on Catholic lawyers to remain politically independent as the country is in crisis.Delivering the homily at the Annual Lawyers Red Mass last week at the All Saints Church, in Borella, the Cardinal said that Catholic lawyers had to uphold honesty. “Fear only God as you are accountable to God, one day. You need to be the moral conscience of this nation,” the Cardinal said, adding that Catholics in the legal profession must strive hard to ensure that true democracy, equality, freedom and discipline, based on honesty and uprightness, are always protected.

It was best for Catholic lawyers, and those in the legal profession, to remain politically independent, the Cardinal said.

“With all the mockery that has taken place, ever since we received independence, and the overwhelming sense of dishonesty, corruption rampant in public life, violence, deception, opportunism, lack of transparency and accountability, political wheeler-dealing, vitiating the rule of law by power blocks and political leaders, made our society without national moral conscience.

“Sri Lanka has become a failed-state, not because it lacks the means to achieve prosperity, but because we do not take our convictions serioysly.

 “Not taking action to prevent the terror attacks, even after prior information about terror activities of Zahran Hashim and his group reached them and ignoring the repeated Indian warnings, as well as the continuous disregard shown by the present political leaders and other authorities including the Attorney General to the requests for a transparent or clean investigation into it or to the calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry are clear indications of a serious lack of moral conscience on their part.”

National Chaplain of the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild, Rev Fr Freely Muthukudaarachchi, former Chaplain Rev Fr Noel Dias, and Diocesan Marriage Tribunal Judicial Vicar Rev Fr Christo Viraj Fernando were also present.