The erection of a new Diocese is always a great event in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. The North Western Province was detached from the Archdiocese of Colombo in 1939 and was proclaimed the Diocese of Chilaw and entrusted to the first Bishop of Chilaw, the Rt.  Rev. Dr. Edmund Peiris o.m.i. on 25 March 1940. The Kurunegala District  thereby formed part of the Diocese of Chilaw.

There was an urgent neccessity to carve out a separate Diocese for the Kurunegala District as this area  had an identity of its own and its ethos, its people and customs were very different from those of the me, coastal belt. However, it took some time for the powers that be to realise that a region, such as  this did not receive adequate pastoral care by  remote control. Sometime in 1983 the Rt. Rev. Dr. Frank Marcus Fernando the Bishop of Chilaw initiated meaningful efforis to study this concept  and  move  in  that  direction.Thus, the Catholic Diocese of Kurunegala came into being on 18th July 1987 with the installation of Most Rev. Dr. Raymond Peiris as the first bishop. After twenty two years of his episcopacy, Most Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera was installed as the second bishop of Kurunegala on 11th July 2009.

It may be useful to review here the purpose, the finality of which the new Diocese was created.  The Decree of the Second Vatican Council on the Bishop’s Pastoral office in the Church has this to say of the diocesan boundaries:For a diocese to fulfill its purpose the nature of the Church must be clearly evident to the people of God who belong to that Diocese…………the welfare of the people of God must be served as perfectly as possible”(n.22).  Taking this as our norm, it may be useful to spell out in brief, the idea behind the cretion of this new Diocese.  “Go ye and preach the gospel to every creature” (Me. 19:14).  This was the categorical command of the Master………….While the mission of the church to make Christ present to  the people, through the spirit, in their own struggles, aspirations, failiurs and achievements ought to be true of any diocese, the specific aims behind the creation of this Diocese should be underscored (Ad Gentes, n.6)

The newly created Diocese has just 3% Catholics. It is 97%rural.  This reveals to us the magnitude of the task ahead of us.  It also reveals to us the urgency of being exemplary Christians, like the early Christians of whom it was said “See how they love one another” It reveals the need of being living witnesses to the Good News we have received.  It reveals the need of being the leaven in the dough (Mt 13:33); the salt that will not lose its savour (Mt. 5: 13); the light that cannot be hidden under a bushel (Mt. 5:14).