National Seminar organized by the Sri Lanka University Catholic Students’ Movement was held on 7^th, 8th and 9^th April 2017 at Seth SaranaModel Farm, Madampe. The National Seminar was organized by the National Chaplain Rev.Fr. Claude Perera with the guidance of Rt. Rev. Bishop Maxwell Silva. . About 75 students from Sri Lankan Universities in all areas of Sri Lanka participated in this National Seminar. Mainly Students from the Colombo Region, Ruhuna Region, Peradeniya Region, Sabaragamuwa Region and Jaffna Region participated in this National Seminar. The National Seminar was mainly organized to get together University Students from all Sri Lankan Universities and share their ideas to be united as a national movement.

Almost all Students arrived at Seth Sarana Model Farm, Madampe on 7^th of April in the evening.They arrived early so that they can relax and participate fresh in the seminar which will start the next day. After dinner there was a musical session where everybody sang songs till about midnight. In the musical session everyone present enjoyed singing songs and also got to know new faces from other regions of Sri Lankan Universities. The next day first session was started at around 8 a.m. and Rev.Fr. Jude Nicholas was present to teach us about Liturgy and Family Life. The session was very interesting and everyone eagerly listened to Rev.Fr.Jude Nicholas. The topics he explained to us about Liturgy was very important to our life to lead a rightful religious life. The points he gave us about family life was very encouraging and mainly everyone was very excited about his teaching about the things to consider when finding a life partner.

The evening session started at around 3 p.m. and was conducted by Rev.Fr. Jude Bernard and it was about Drugs and Alcohol. Rev.Fr. Jude Bernard showed us small video clips and also explained about people who have got addicted to drugs showing their pictures before getting addicted to drugs and after using drugs. Rev.Fr. Jude Bernard also explained the effects of using drugs and alcohol. The most interesting part of this session was done by Mr. Chaminda who had been a drug addict and now had overcome it. He explained how he used drugs and what he did to overcome drug addiction. After  the dinner there was a campfire organized and everybody divided into groups did several acts and also enjoyed watching others’ performances . After the acts everybody got together and sang songs and also hymns and ended the day very happily with the campfire by the time it was 2.a.m. the next day.

The next day we celebrated Palm Sunday with the holy mass and then we had breakfast and had a small session to exchange ideas about opinions of students’ of different regions about their Catholic Regional and Unit Work and about the National Seminar and then we had lunch at about 12.30 p.m. and we all left Seth Sarana, Madampe with new thoughts about leading a more spiritual and united life.

One of the major topics talked about in the National Seminar is the revival of the National Movement.  Rev.Fr. Jude Chrysantha put forward the idea about the revival of the National Movement .After several discussions the idea was confirmed and everyone decided to form the National Movement once again. Rt. Rev. Bishop Maxwell Silva was also present to give us his guidance. The National Movement consists of 9 regions namely Colombo, Peradeniya, Ruhuna, Wayamba, Jaffna, Sabaragamuwa, Rajarata, Batticaloa and Uva.  University of Colombo, University of Moratuwa, University of Sri Jayewardenapura and  University of Kelaniya comes under the Colombo Region. University of Peradeniya comes under the Peradeniya Region and Ruhuna University comes under the Ruhuna Region. Sri Wayamba University comes under the Wayamba region and Sabaragamu University comes under the Sabaragamuwa region. University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka Eastern University, Uva Wellassa University and Rajarata University comes under the Jaffna region, Batticaloa region, Uva region and Rajarata region respectively. After forming the national movement it was decided to appoint two national coordinators from each region respectively for the national movement and it was decide to have at least 2 or 3 meetings in a calendar year. Thus enhancing the unity and spirituality of Sri Lanka University Catholic Students.

Written By Eranda Grero