Reverend Father S. J. Emmanuel is a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, activist and president of the

Global Tamil Forum Global Tamil Forum (GTF) is an International Tamil organization meant to further Tamil causes in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. GTF supports self-determination for Tamils and wants justice for war crimes against Tamils. It is headed by S. J. Emmanuel ...

, an umbrella organisation for

Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora. Like other diasporas, Sri Lankan Tamils are scattered and dispersed around the glo ...

groups.

Early life

Emmanuel was born in 1934 in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He studied in Jaffna before going to the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

from where he obtained a bachelor's degree in physical sciences (Mathematics & Physics) in 1958. After graduation he spent time as a teacher and a journalist before he chose to join the priesthood. He then went to the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

from where he obtained a degree in philosophy and theology.

Career

Emmanuel was ordained as a priest at

St Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal en ...

in December 1966. On returning to Ceylon he served as a pastor and diocesan director for lay apostolate. He returned to Rome in 1976 where he did research into lay ministries and obtained a doctorate in theology. After returning to Sri Lanka he served as a professor and Dean of Theology at the National Seminary in

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

from 1976 to 1986, after which he was Rector of St. Francis Xavier’s Major Seminary in Jaffna for ten years. He was also the Vicar General of the Jaffna Diocese until 1997. Emmanuel was amongst the half million people who fled the Jaffna peninsula in October 1995 when the

Sri Lankan Military The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (Sri Lank ...

launched an

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

to recapture the peninsula from the rebel

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. He spent the next year in the jungles of Vanni before going into exile in 1997.

Exile

Emmanuel moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1997 where he was a priest in a catholic parish in the

diocese of Münster In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

until 2007. Since 2007 he has served as Vicarius Cooperator in St. Nikolaus Parish in Darfeld, Germany. Emmanuel has spent his exile as a conscientious Catholic and Tamil activist publicising the impact of the Sri Lankan Civil War, mostly on Tamil civilians. In 2010 he was elected President of the

, an umbrella organisation for

groups.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmanuel, S. J. 1934 births Living people 21st-century Sri Lankan Roman Catholic priests Sri Lankan Tamil academics Sri Lankan Tamil journalists Sri Lankan Tamil priests Sri Lankan Tamil teachers German people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent 20th-century Sri Lankan Roman Catholic priests