07/02/2019 Sri Lanka (International Christian Concern)- In the aftermath of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, Catholic nuns have taken to visiting affected families to offer psychological help, prayers and comfort. The team, which includes well trained therapists, began their work the day after the attacks and since then, have been to several homes in the Negombo district. They admit that their efforts can seem futile at times because of the level of pain the community is facing but many families are slowly accepting the tragedy and choosing to hope in God’s will for the future.

After the incident, the Major Religious Superiors of Sri Lanka held an emergency meeting calling more than 200 sisters to provide psychological healing to people in the community. The nuns, coming from different churches, work alongside professional counsellors, go into these homes and mostly offer the families a much desired listening ear.

“In the first stage, we visited 70 families who have lost their dear and near ones in the bomb explosion,” Perera – a trained counselor on the team, explains to Global Sisters Report. In the second stage, they visited those how were severely injured and in the third stage, they focused on visiting priests and parishioners.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo who earlier last week, critiqued the government for not being proactive enough about preventing the Easter attacks, is a man who is becoming a source of strength for many Catholics in the region. Ranjith asked priests and nuns “to be with the people for at least three months.”

The Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka is the country’s worst occurrence since their civil war, three decades ago. The attack, targeted at churches and luxurious hotels, killed more than 200 people, leaving about 500 wounded.

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected].