In the year of the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion, Revd Chamil Fernando, an Anglican priest from Sri Lanka, shares how he and his family are settling into life at the Diocese of Leeds.
In an interview filmed in November 2021 with the then Bishop of Kirkstall, the Rt Revd Paul Slater, Chamil shares some of his Sri Lankan background, why they travelled to the UK and what he and his family have enjoyed so far about living in the diocese.
Watch the interview between Chamil and Bishop Paul below.
[VIDEO::https://youtu.be/X-aV65zhl0M]
Before arriving back in Leeds last year, Chamil has lived and served as a priest in the Diocese of Colombo as the Anglican clergy representative of an ecumenical church on the outskirts of the city of Colombo.
Chamil now lives in the Leeds area with his wife Evangeline, daughter Keziah and new born son Chael. He will work as an Assistant Curate and attend St. Hild’s College to complete study for a BA in Ministry & Theology.
The Bishop of Kirkstall, speaking back in 2020, said, “Chamil comes to us with a wide range of gifts and skills for Christian ministry. What he needs now is a deeper grounding in theology and we see that as the principal aim of his time with us.”
“I particularly want to thank Mark Edwards, our Sri Lanka Task Group Link Officer, for coordinating all the work to get ready the house which will be their home for the next two to three year.
“It is a challenging time to come to the UK and we are grateful to those who will support them as they settle into life here.”
Leeds Diocese has a link with the two dioceses in Sri Lanka: Colombo and Kuranegala which together form the Church of Ceylon, the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka.
To find out more about the link between our dioceses, follow the link here to the designated section of our website.