The twenty-seventh of July 2023 marks the 76th anniversary of Thomas Cardinal Cooray OMI taking over the reins of office as the sixth and the first native Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Colombo back in 1947. He was nominated by Ven. Pope Pius XII on December 14, 1945 as Co-adjutor with the right of succession to Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson OMI, on whose sudden demise, succeeded him in office.
Archbishop Cooray was consecrated on March 7, 1946. “The Cooray-Era” lasted over three decades from 1947 to 1976, the year of his retirement. What we today see as the immense Roman Catholic archdiocese of Colombo is a result of the unstinted, dedicated and pioneering work of Archbishop Cooray who eventually was created Sri Lanka’s first cardinal by Pope St. Paul VI in 1965.
Cardinal Cooray will go down in church and national history as a true patriot and a spiritual colossus to grace this pearl of the Indies, Sri Lanka. Catholics will remember and revere him as a person of sanctity, an ecclesiastic with exceptional love and care for his faithful and one who had a compassionate heart for the poor, the youth and workers.
The country in general will hold him as a true patriot, a lover of indigenous culture and art and one who loved environment and nature. As the first native Archbishop and first cardinal of our motherland, he brought immense fame to Sri Lanka. He won the laurels not only of all the leading religious leaders and clergy of his time such as Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula Thera and Most Ven. Madihē Pannāseeha Thera, but also respects and esteem of those in government ranks.
Scene of leadership
Archbishop and Cardinal Cooray entered the scene of leadership with the dawn of the independence-era and can be singled out as a leader and guide of great stature who led the archdiocese and the Church in Sri Lanka in general to a remarkable period of growth and strength. The spirit that animated him was his utter dedication to his tasks and duties as the spiritual leader and shepherd of the faithful.
The needs of his flock always were considered his priority. These concerns occupied his time and energies and made him put to use all the human and spiritual qualities he was endowed with in the service of the flock entrusted to him by divine providence. He had the incredible gift of discerning the gifts that others had and succeeded admirably in involving them in his work by devolving responsibilities. This is well demonstrated when he appointed three Vicars General to begin with to oversee the sectors of ordinary pastoral care, the area of education and finally to manage the relationships of the archdiocese with the State.
All these three were outstanding men in the ranks of the clergy. We see his long-range wisdom in choosing them from three different ethnic groups: a Sinhalese of the calibre of Fr. Nicholas Perera OMI, the first rector of St. Peter’s College and a member of the Ceylon delegation to Britain which reported about injustices of British Rule to the Crown; the second an eminent intellectual and educationist, Fr. Peter Pillai OMI who was the most educated Catholic priest in the whole of the commonwealth having won rare laurels in Cambridge and Rome and finally a French experienced missionary, Fr. Gerard Fortin OMI. With these three eminent administrators, Archbishop Cooray set to work in the planning and launching of the various initiatives in the archdiocese.
In the spiritual field there are many a pioneering effort of Cardinal Cooray. The first being his plan to prepare an indigenous local clergy to serve the diocese since he knew that the day would soon dawn when foreign missionaries would not be at hand anymore. It was with this challenge confronting him that he enlarged seminaries for local in-take and especially pioneered the inauguration of the National Seminary of Our Lady of Lanka in Kandy in 1955 which is Alma Mater to hundreds of priests who are now serving in various dioceses in Sri Lanka.
Indefatigable dedication
The imposing National Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka that nestles in Tēwatte, Rāgama is a monument to his indefatigable dedication to raise this magnificent edifice with a touch of oriental architecture in honour of the Mother of God for whom he always showed a filial love and devotion. This church that took 24 years to build was consecrated with the crowning of the beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lanka on February 6, 1974. He even wished that this statue sculptured in Portugal be carved from a “Na” tree symbolic of Sri Lanka.
The two contemplative communities of nuns and the retreat house within its environs create a superb oasis for prayer and spiritual activities. No wonder we see here the primacy of the religious and the spiritual in all the important undertakings of this Servant of God.
Being a lover of nature and specially plants from his student days, he took the initiative of planting with his own hands the massive wide-branched trees that surround the basilica which offers cool and shade to thousands who gather at the shrine for bigger national festivals.
Two churches in Badalgama and Kalamulla had been done in Sri Lankan architectural style. It attracts many an eye even today.
His missionary zeal left no bounds as is exemplified in the foundation he laid for the present diocese of Rajarata (Anuradhapura) when profiting from the State’s encouragement in early 1950s, to create settlements of farming families in the heart of Anuradhapura, Archbishop Cooray had invited Catholic farmer-families from his diocese to migrate there and join in the national effort of launching agro-projects thereby not only serving the needs of the country to become self-sufficient in rice, but also founding Catholic settlements.
It is out of these farmer families and the Catholics scattered in the NCP that the present diocese was born and officially instituted in 1982. Today, it counts nearly 16,000 Catholics in a population of 1.2 million and dispersed in 15 different parishes.
If one wishes to glance at the endeavours of Archbishop Cooray in the field of education and formation of youth, one marvels at the projects he had initiated.
Aquinas College of Higher education in Borella since 1955 continues its great oasis for youth in tertiary education by offering diploma and degree courses in Agro-Science, IT, Education, English, Psychology and Counselling, Arts and Religious studies as well.
Vocational training
Aquinas has grown to be one of the prestigious centres of higher learning in Sri Lanka targeting youth. To provide vocational training, he had opened also at Kotahena a Radio and Electronic Laboratory in 1962. To rehabilitate the errant youth following the Youth insurrection of the JVP and help the efforts of the State as well, Archbishop Cooray has offered a land in Bangadeniya to open a farming school. He was anxious that the young in universities be given a strong religious formation for which he appointed Catholic chaplaincies and even explored the possibility of arranging for a Sri Lankan chaplain for students living in London to ensure their integral formation.
Some of the challenges that Archbishop Cooray faced was the schools take-over by the State in 1960 with archdiocese itself loosing grip of over 250 grade III schools. Convinced that interference by the State would lead to the loss of the Catholic atmosphere direly needed for the formation of the Catholic children, he fought this battle to its bitter end and had to be content with running only Grade I and II schools which had to be financed solely by the Church.
He succeeded overturning the 1965 decision of the State declaring all Poya days as holidays with Sunday as a working day instead, which caused much harassment to Christians island-wide. The refusal of visas to foreign missionaries was another issue to contend with which made the formation of the local clergy an imperative.
It was not without reason when the JVP insurrection began, the State called upon him as Archbishop to broadcast to the nation and to the young to eschew from all violence. With independence there were leftist and Marxist trends that began intruding into national life and even with the danger of poisoning the minds of the university students.
He warned that leftist impact can spell disaster to not only national politics but also can threaten the country’s religious spirit and indigenous culture. Though he welcomed the New Constitution of 1972, he had also alerted the lawmakers that given the importance of a constitution for the nation and its people, such decisions would be better taken after due consultation with the people and seeking the views of experts.
Prudent and tactful ways
This shows how concerned Cardinal Cooray was for the welfare of our motherland. Though he did not lock horns directly with the governing circles, he would set upon prudent and tactful ways of dealing with issues that affected the Church in general.
Reading through his 30 years as Archbishop and 23 years a Cardinal, we see a national figure of rare calibre and integrity. Evidently he was a Sri Lankan to the core, having loved his motherland and its people a part of which, the Catholics, were his own flock. As a cardinal, he had immense impact also on the churches in Asia such as in founding the Federation of Asian Bishops (FABC) and Radio Veritas in Manila.
By nature of this office, he served with great devotion the Holy See and the Vatican. This is why he was happy to welcome Pope St. Paul VI to Sri Lanka in December 1970. Cardinal Cooray who is now declared a Servant of God, is on his way to sainthood. It will happen in God’s good time as we continue to look forward to that day and pray earnestly that our dream may come true of seeing Thomas Cardinal Cooray OMI as Sri Lanka’s first native saint.