Faith

A proud Sri Lankan family of tea pickers pose in front of their home.

Propagation of the Faith

Friday, April 18, 2025Faith

High in the mountains of the Diocese of Galle, Sri Lanka sits the Silisiliya Tea Estate that employs most of the area's population. It is generational work. If your grandparents were tea-pickers, your parents were, and you will be too, starting at a very young age.
Just outside the community is Saint Joseph's parish. During my visit in 2016, Father Bede was pastor. After Sunday Mass, we took a 30-minute drive, parked, and began our descent down the rocky hill into the valley where the workers live.
The children were assembled; they knew Father was bringing guests. I was welcomed with leis of local flowers. The children did a traditional dance and sang songs as we were seated on the front stoop of their tiny one room schoolhouse. Their teacher drives an hour to get to that same dirt parking spot every day for classes. Because he is a Catholic (as is only 6 percent of the Sri Lankan population), he stays once a week to also teach catechism. The parish pays him a small stipend; the faith formation materials are provided by our Pontifical Mission Societies.
The children work hard at school, hoping to do well enough to qualify for a scholarship -- again, provided by our Societies -- to climb that rocky path to get a bus into the village to a better school. It's their first step out of tea-picking. Most students do not make it.
We handed out World Mission Rosaries to the children; they were thrilled! They had been learning how to say the rosary, but didn't have beads, so they were counting Hail Marys on their fingers.
Then, I was invited to climb a hill to visit the people's homes. Every "block" housed four families; each apartment had 2 rooms, one for living, one for sleeping. Cooking was done outdoors. Multiple generations of a family lived in each apartment.
I talked to people through a translator, asking about the details of life there. All the while, chickens scratched in the dirt and dogs -- the security system of the missions -- wandered. My final question was asked to anyone who wanted to answer: What did they like about living there?
The answer was instantaneous and beautiful. A young woman smiled and said, "My family is all here. There's a roof over our heads. I walk out my door and pick lemons, limes, avocados, and more. What else could I possibly want?" What indeed?
As I came down the hill, I walked to a little shrine built to honor the Blessed Mother and left my leis on her statue in tribute. May we all live in such gratitude for the everyday blessings God bestows upon us.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.