by Melani Manel Perera

Bakhti Prabodhanaya has been published by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate since 1899. International schools and the country's Tamil community had been asking for an English edition. The magazine sells 12.000 copies per month focusing on the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, family issues and ethics.

Negombo (AsiaNews) - The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate launched the first English edition in print and online of Bakthi Prabodhanaya, Sri Lanka's oldest magazine. The ceremony was held last Monday at St Peter's Parish Hall in Negombo. "It is a great victory achieved with God's blessing," Bakthi Prabodhanaya's editor Fr Dilan Perera OMI told AsiaNews.

The launch began with a thanksgiving Mass, celebrated by Fr Lal Pushpadeva OMI, director of Saint Vincent Home in Maggona, and other priests.

Afterword, Fr Dilan gave a copy of Bakhti Prabodhanaya's first English edition to Fr Rohan Silva, provincial superior of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

"The new edition will not just be a translation from Sinhala, but will have original content. For some time, international and state schools were asking for an English edition for its spiritual content," Fr Dilan told AsiaNews. "Now we'll be able to reach Tamil readers", the priest noted.

Since 1987 Tamil has been one of Sri Lanka's official languages along with Sinhala, with English as the country's lingua franca.

Bakthi Prabodhanaya's was first published in January 1899 by Saint Vincent Home in Maggona. Initially, it had eight pages and an annual subscription fee of one rupee.

The monthly was published as a supplement to Ganartha Pradeepaya, Sri Lanka's oldest Catholic Sinhala newspaper.

Now it sells around 12.000 copies every month focusing on issues like the family, the social doctrine of Catholic Church, ethics and children.

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