Photo courtesy of The Island
November 10 will be the 37th anniversary of the killing of Fr. Michael Rodrigo, OMI, popularly known as Fr. Mike. He was killed while I was a student at St. Peter’s and he has been a role model and an inspiration since my school days.
In this article I will focus on his work and thoughts on education. Fr. Mike was also a student of St. Peter’s and we both taught at college after leaving school. Later on, we both became involved in education and struggles for social justice and human rights including through the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR).
During my time in school and afterwards, I have come across many Peterites who have gone on to excel in fields diverse as academia, science, music, film, sports, business and priesthood. It is difficult to judge the criteria of a true Peterite – is it fame, high positions, wealth, awards? If we consider values such as simplicity, service, self-sacrifice and uncompromised commitment to the college motto of “Virtue in Truth” and giving life to the words in the college anthem “lend a heart and lend a hand….ever fighting for the rights….helping those in need”, Fr. Mike would be an exemplary Peterite.
It is such values that led him to give up comforts and high positions and live as a poor amongst the poor peasants in Alukalavita, Buttala in the Monaragala district. He had a strong spirituality that had given him the courage to sacrifice his life when he had plenty of options to give up the difficult and dangerous mission and shift to a safer, comfortable mission. On November 10 1987, he was shot dead while celebrating mass. His congregation, Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), have initiated a process to recognize him as a martyr, the first ever Sri Lankan Catholic to be submitted for such an honors.
Eight years after leaving college, in 1954, the same year of his ordination as a Catholic priest, Fr. Mike had written an article for the college magazine, titled “Spotlight on a College Motto”. He highlights the importance of religious and ethics education, stressing that these will give rich meaning to other school activities. He reflects that our minds were created to seek truth, that young minds were very responsive to the truth and that teachers and books that impart knowledge must be true and trustworthy. He insists that Peterites must be seekers, doers and defenders of truth and that this will require effort and courage. He had cited a story of a man who choose to be killed for truth and goodness rather than conduct experiments on some prisoners. He may not have thought that 33 years later, he would also make a similar choice to be killed for his beliefs.
Fr. Mike spent much of his adult life as an educator. After completing his studies, Fr. Mike started teaching at college. He was an intellectual; after his ordination, he obtained two doctorates in Rome and Paris and he was a teacher at the national seminary at Ampitiya in Kandy for about 16 years, helping in the formation of several generations of Catholic priests. But his most pioneering educational efforts came after he had obtained his second PhD, starting off by engaging in public education at CSR for several years. He then went to assist Bishop Leo Nanayakkara in an innovative educational experience for those being trained to be Catholic priests of the newly established Catholic diocese of Badulla. This comprised a contextual type of priestly formation starting from real live struggles of people, especially the oppressed such as tea estate workers in upper Uva and peasants in lower Uva.
In 1980, he ventured to the rural village of Alukalavita. He lived and worked from a simple mud hut amid a Buddhist community without any attempt to convert them. He engaged in series of educational and empowering activities such as on indigenous medicines and agriculture. He played an important role in supporting peasants to understand what was happening to the environment and natural resources due to industrial sugar cane cultivations and actively supported the local communities struggles for land. It is from Alukalavita that he wrote a challenging article in the college’s 60th jubilee magazine in 1982 that remains relevant 42 years later.
He reflects that college has paid lip service to social justice since 1936, that true education is education for justice and that college can and must take a new turn. The article stressed the importance of Catholic education prioritizing dialogue among all faiths and justice and that dialogue and justice should be two main thrusts of college.
Fr. Mike’s thoughts on education were in line with the thinking of World Synod of Catholic Bishops in 1971, which had highlighted that the principle aim for education for justice must be to awaken consciences of situations, call for improvement and that it must be a practical education through action, participation and contact with realities of injustice.
Fr. Mike is one of St. Peter’s College’s earliest and foremost public intellectuals and an exemplary and inspiring role model student. He became a martyr for living up to his ideals and faith. The anniversary of his killing would be a good occasion to reflect and act more seriously on the thoughts about education and in particular Catholic education.