Rev. Fr. Paul Casperz S. J.

Courtesy : L. K. Hettiarachchi /Friends of SAC Galle Photos 1950/1960s FB

Rev. Fr. Paul Caspersz S.J 

Fr. Paul  Casperz S. J. had his early education at St Benedict’s College & at St Joseph’s College, Colombo. He followed religious studies in  Tamil Nadu & was ordained in 1952 at Naples, Italy.

He obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from  Oxford University & on his return, he was assigned to St. Aloysius College, Galle  as a teacher in 1958 . 

The following photo from ‘The Aloysian’ Magazine - 1959/60 with some under- privileged children shows one of his early pursuits as a priest.

Rev Fr. Caspersz SJ and Mr K P A Perera organized a Children’s Camp during school vacation month. Main purposes were:
1 To help the under privileged children in the Kaluwella area 
2. To teach the SAC students the value of social activities & assistance.
First 2 rows and the last row - small children from Kaluwella area.

Standing first row Aloysian students - JBX Devotta , KL Karunasiri, Lionel Samarasinghe, Joe Hugh de Silva, Punya & Chandra Nanayakkara brothers?? 

( Duration of the camps was about one week)

Staff of SAC, Galle with Fr. Casperz

He was appointed Prefect of Studies/Principal in 1963 & held this position until 1968 & again from 1970 to 1971.

During this time, the number of students which was 1407 steadily decreased, as the College could no longer admit non – Catholic students due to a policy adopted by the State & as  the decade closed the writing was on the wall. Fund raising campaigns petered out & the college was in dire straits financially. The College was handed over to the state in July 1971.

After the College was handed over to the State,  he launched  Satyodaya – the dawn of truth – a centre for social research and encounter. Its focus was to bring Tamil plantation workers and Sinhala villagers together, in order to help them develop their communities and lives. He was later associated with the launch of the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE). 

His contributions to society have been recorded in several tributes paid to him when he passed away at the age of ninety two years in 2017.

These tributes can be accessed here:

https://thuppahis.com/2016/03/11/in-the-ecumenical-service-of-humanity-fr-paul-caspersz-s-j/

By Jayantha Somasundaram

Extract

"Paul Caspersz remains one of the most important influences in the radicalisation of the Christian social conscience in Sri Lanka. Like all pioneers, his has been a lonely pilgrimage. Like all those who seek to be different he has been misunderstood and misrepresented. But he has created a legacy that future generations can build on. During his years of activism, he has seen the Church and the Christian community transformed. From being a bastion of privilege and elitism, it is increasingly seen as a friend of the poor, the marginalised, the dispossessed."

 https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/a-tribute-to-fr-paul-caspersz/#google_vignette

By Professor Charles Ponnuthurai Sarwan 

Extract

"Father Paul Caspersz went to school in Colombo, entered the Society of Jesus in 1942, and was ordained a priest 10 years later. He read Politics and Economics at Oxford and, returning to the island, was a teacher till 1971. A year later, he co-founded the Satyodaya Centre for Social Research and Encounter, Kandy. New Culture, marking Paul Caspersz becoming an octogenarian, testifies to a remarkable man, and a remarkable life of quiet, sustained, service to the poor and the disadvantaged, animated by the spirit of Decree IV of the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus:  “The reconciliation of men and women among themselves, which their reconciliation with God demands, must be based on justice.”

Caspersz has a special sympathy for the Upcountry (or Plantation) Tamils because they are among the most wretched of “the wretched of the earth” (Frantz Fanon), suffering from both the vertical and horizontal lines of ethnicity and class: “not only was the estate isolated from the village but, through a series of vicious and restrictive laws, regulations and customs, each estate was carefully sealed off from every other” (p. 32).  The surrounding Sinhalese villages deeply resented both the expropriation of their land and the importation of foreigners, but unfortunately their anger found expression not against the real villains – British imperialism, the tea companies and their managers – but against the hapless victims."

https://dpul.princeton.edu/sae_sri_lanka_dissidents/feature/paul-caspersz

Extract

"In his over 40 years of activism, Paul Caspersz published over 300 articles in journals and newspapers on topics varying from civil and economic rights of the Upcountry Plantation community to Marxist Liberation Theology. Some of his work (36) was published in his festschrift, A New Culture for a New Society: Selected Writings 1945-2005 in 2005. Most of his works are housed at the Rev Fr Paul Caspersz Memorial Library at Satyodaya in both published and manuscript form. He published most of his writings in the most widely circulated daily newspapers in Sri Lanka to create awareness among the general public, while some other articles were meant to challenge state leaders and state conduct in public forums."

https://thuppahis.com/2017/05/03/a-jesuit-servant-of-the-people-two-affirmative-voices-applaud-fr-paul-caspersz-sj/

By Rajan Philips & Alex van Arkadie

Extract /Rajan Phillips

"In 2005, the Jesuits of the Sri Lanka Province honoured Fr Paul Caspersz by publishing his selected writings as a beautifully edited book, entitle: “A New Culture for a New Society – Selected Writings 1945-2005.” The book was released on December 2, 2005, as a mark of the Sri Lankan Jesuits’ con-celebration of the triple jubilee of the Society of Jesus: the 450th death anniversary of Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder; and the 500th birth anniversaries of Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, two of St. Ignatius’s most famous companions. On the same day there was a global gathering in Loyola, Spain, to celebrate the triple jubilee. For those of us who knew Fr Paul and his work, the book provides a clear window to a life time of inspirations, organization and achievements. Thirty six out of more than 300 writings have been selected and fittingly divided into five sections: Plantations, The Inter-Ethnic Question, Socio-spiritual Issues, Personal Reflections and Memories, and Development.

The book outlines his life trajectory: early education at St Benedict’s College and St Joseph’s College, Colombo; Philosophy at the Jesuit noviciate in Shembaganur, Madurai, Tamil Nadu; Theology and Ordination in 1952, Naples, Italy; Politics and Economics at Oxford; teacher and Principal at St Aloysius’ College, Galle (1958-71); and the founding of Satyodaya with Bishop Leo Nanayakkara, in Kandy, in 1972. From his Reflections and Memories, we learn about his upbringing by a strong mother who became a widow after the sudden death of her 34-year old husband. Fr Paul was a three-month old baby. As a teenager, he told his mother that he wanted to become a Jesuit and go to Oxford to study, emulating Edmund Campion, the English Jesuit, he had read about in Tout’s history book. He kept his promises to his mother and to himself."

Extract / Alex van Arkadie

"I got to know Fr. Paul Caspersz, SJ in the mid-1980s when coordinating with SATYODAYA Kandy to solicit and thereafter secure approval (from our Donor Agency in Rome) financial help for the Kap-Ela Youth Farm Project, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Thanks to the consistency, visionary leadership, and guidance of Fr. Paul, the project had a unique success story from its inception. To abide by the strict requirements of our Fund, Fr. Paul led the people’s campaign and won for them the land by a Crown Grant (announced in the Govt. Gazette)!!!

His efforts led us to design and obtain funds for a few other community welfare projects focused for the benefit of plantation worker families in the hill country. From a successful project he formulated for the ‘Supply of Drinking Water’, the marginalized poor were introduced to benefit from a back-yard fruit and vegetable farm project from which, within a single year, participants earned a subsidiary income by selling produce at nearby markets and soon thereafter contribute to their own community Revolving Fund."

https://www.aisls.org/father-paul-caspersz-memorial-library-satyodaya-library/

Extract

The collection covers labour rights, the plantation sector, human rights, left-wing politics, education and pedagogy, Christian and Buddhist theology, and children’s literature. It has strong holdings, including theses/dissertations, on the plantation sector and topics related to Up-Country Tamils. There is also a special collection on the published and unpublished writings of Fr. Paul Caspersz (1925-2017), which focuses on the economic and social position of Up-Country Tamils. Periodical holdings include Ravaya, Tamil Times, Hansard, Saturday Review, Lanka Guardian, Economic Review and Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka

https://groundviews.org/2016/03/04/fr-paul-caspersz-an-interview/

Extract / Mangala Fernando

"Question: How were you influenced by Liberation Theology?

When I was in Italy I was introduced to Liberation Theology. Liberation Theology gave me perspective to work for the rights of the people especially of workers. That is why I began to like to work with [Tea] Plantation workers.

Question: Why were you so interested to promote the inter-religious harmony among people in Sri Lanka?

It was a time when the troubles between the Sinhalese and Tamils were so intense. Around that time I founded the movement MIRJE which some did not like the acronym as they argued that the Sinhalese and Tamils were from the same race. Therefore they wanted “inter-ethnic” being in it. But R (racial) became fitting to the term and we went ahead with that. I was the founder and president of MIRJE for several years.

Question: I remember at Satyodaya we had members from many ethnic groups and faith. How did you encourage that to happen at Satyodaya?

This is because I wanted Satyodaya to be also like Sri Lanka with many ethnic groups and languages. At that time Tamils had difficulties especially during the first period of SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) [during 1972 – 1975], when they started the land reforms. Then I began to be interested at [tea] plantation workers. We did lot of things to get their citizenship."