Introduction

Despite its pre-eminence, Kudagama is only one of several shrines which have developed in Sri Lanka since the early seventies. Although many priests may have reservations about it, Kudagama is still firmly within the framework of the institutional Church. Father Jayamanne is a priest in holy orders and has done nothing which puts him beyond the pale of the Church. He still has the support of his bishop and many of his fellow priests, and little which goes on at the shrine and which has his approval could be described as heterodox. However, other shrines are much less orthodox, existing on the margins of the Church and are either ignored or attacked by the priesthood. They centre on individuals who have no place in the ecclesiastical hierarchy but who claim in one way or another to have special gifts. They provide access to divine grace independent of the Church and represent a challenge to both the Church and its priesthood.

In this chapter I shall be concerned with three of these shrines. The first has developed around a man called Lambert who claims to have been given special powers by the Virgin Mary. His shrine, which he calls Suvagama, is closely modelled on Kudagama. The second is in some ways much more radical than Suvagama. Here, a young man called Lalith Aponsu claims to have been ordained a bishop by Christ himself and attracts a regular following to his shrine of Our Lady of Katunayake. The third is rather different: here St Sebastian possesses a man called Norbert every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.