Fr. W.L.A. Don Peter:

The foremost Catholic scholar of our times

W.T.A. Leslie FERNANDO

The first death anniversary of Fr. W.L.A. Don Peter, the well-known Catholic priest, educationist, historian, poet, author, journalist and patriot falls on April 24, 2009. The foremost Catholic scholar of our times passed away on April 24, 2008 at the ripe old age of 91.

Rev. Fr. W.L.A. Don Peter

Fr. Welgama Lekam Appuhamilage Don Peter was born on September 25, 1916 at Kondegammulla, Katana. After a brilliant academic career at Maris Stella College, Negombo - the cradle of many a Catholic priest, he entered St. Aloysious’ Seminary in 1935. He later had his education at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and priestly formation at St. Bernard’s Seminary. He was ordained a priest on March 25 by Dr. J.M. Masson, the then Archbishop of Colombo.

From 1941 to 1946, he served as an Assistant Parish Priest at St. Mary’s Church Grand Street, Negombo and then at St. Thomas’ Church, Kotte. In 1946, Fr. Don Peter was appointed to the staff of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo. He also functioned as the prefect of boarders, prefect of studies and prefect of discipline there.

Fr. Don Peter, who studied Pali on his own at the seminary itself now began to lean towards Oriental studies. While leading a busy life at St. Joseph’s, he spent his leisure hours studying Oriental languages, history and culture.

The Church was not slow to recognise the talents of Fr. Don Peter. In 1950 Archbishop Thomas Cooray sent him abroad for further studies. He studied for one year at the Urbanian University taking up his residence at the College of St. Peter, the Apostle in Rome.

In 1951 Fr. W.L.A. Don Peter proceeded to England and joined the school of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He presented the thesis `A Comparative Study of Buddhism and Christianity in Ceylon Education’ for his PhD at the University of London.

Spirituality

In his scholarly article like `St. Francis and Buddha’s Religious Life’, `Buddhist and Christian and in His Research Work’, `Buddhist and Benedictine Monastic Education’, Fr. Don Peter bringsforth the spirituality of the two religions, the austere discipline of Catholic Orders and their similarity to `The Vinaya Rule of the Buddhist Sangha’.

It was as an educationist that Fr. W.L.A. Don Peter shone most. On his return to the island, he was appointed the Director of St. Aloysious’ Seminary.

He served there with great acceptance and introduced new educational methods and cultural features. In 1961, Fr. Don Peter was appointed the Rector of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, the leading Catholic school in Sri Lanka. He was the first old Josephian, the first Diocesan Priest and the first Sinhalese to hold the post.

It was soon after the schools take over and Fr. Don Peter had to face hard times. However he steered St. Joseph’s as a private non-fee-levying school without resorting to any fat donations for admissions. He gave Oriental studies a special place and brought St. Joseph’s College to main-stream of national life.

In 1967, Fr. Don Peter was appointed Domestic Prelate to the Papal Throne with the title Rt. Rev. Monsignor by Pope Paul VI in recognition of his services to Catholic education. In 1971, he was appointed the Rector of Aquinas College of Higher Studies, the premier Catholic educational institution in Sri Lanka.

When Fr. Don Peter assumed duties at Aquinas, the discipline there was at such a low ebb. On one occasion there was a strike by students to share the common room meant for girls! In 1972, Fr. Don Peter closed down the entire science faculty for the sake of order and discipline. He expanded the scope of Aquinas and introduced new courses in English, Agriculture and Journalism.

On July 12, 1975, Fr. Don Peter was appointed the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Colombo. This appointment was made when there were two auxiliary Bishops and another Vicar General. He was assigned the special duties of parish life and ministry, educational apostolate and communication media.

Fr. Don Peter was doing excellent work in his new assignment when Thomas Cardinal Cooray retired in 1976. Fr. Don Peter was tipped to succeed him, but things worked otherwise. As, Fr. Don Peter was a strict disciplinarian, some priests who did not like him petitioned to the Vatican against him. As a result, the post of Archbishop of Colombo remained vacant for nearly a year and at the end Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando was made the Archbishop in 1977.

In May, 1977, Fr. Don Peter took up residence at `Bethany’, Bolawalana to have a period of rest. He spent the time of his literary pursuits and it was here that he produced one of his major research works, `Education in Sri Lanka under the Portuguese’. In 1978, in deference to a request made by the Archbishop of Colombo he accepted the post of Rector Aquinas College for another period.

As the Rector of Aquinas for ten years from 1979 to 1989 Fr. Don Peter succeeded in raising Aquinas to degree awarding university status. But it was dropped at that time as a matter of policy. In 1986, the church authorities named the Auditorium at Aquinas as `Don Peter Auditorium’ in appreciating of his services to the institution.

To be continued next week