St. Peter’s College bade farewell to their 10th Rector, Rev. Fr. Travis Jude Gabriel in a fitting and well organised ceremony today (11th February 2014).

The College was bedecked with flowers and flags and balloons of blue and white and gold for the occasion and one could feel that not only had there been meticulous planning gone into the organising of this event, but also that those responsible had done it with love and affection for a Rector who had been a guide, leader and friend. Having served as Rector for over eight and a half years from 2005 to 2014 and for another fourteen years in other different capacities, a total of twenty two and a half years (more than half his life as he mentioned at a different occasion), the College was bidding him farewell as he goes to lead another great Catholic institute of education.

There were Bishops, Rev. Drs. Emmanuel Fernando and Maxwell Silva of the Archdiocese, Msg. Renato Cuci representing the Papal Nuncio, Fr. Felician Perera, a Past Rector, Mr. Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank (a distinguished Old Boy and also a Past President of the OBU), Surgeon Rear Admiral Dr. Nicholas Jayasekera, President of the OBU among the special guests present, along with the community of priests and teachers of the College, Rev. Sisters, past Presidents and other senior office bearers of the OBU, many other distinguished old boys and family members of Fr. Gabriel who graced the occasion.

In addition to the many guests who attended, needless to say, the quadrangle was packed to capacity with students from the Collegiate Section of the school. At the scheduled time of 8.00 a.m. Fr. Gabriel was garlanded by 2 students as they welcomed him for the ceremony at the entrance to the quadrangle and escorted to the special dais by the College band, the Air Cadet Platoon of the College and the guests of honour.

As is customary at St. Peter's for functions of this nature, as announced by the master of ceremonies, Mr. Bernard Jesudasan, the hoisting of the National, Catholic and College flags was the first item in the programme. Fr. Crispin Leo was then invited to lead the gathering in prayer after which the Air Cadet Platoon accorded Fr. Rector a ceremonial salute of honour. Mas. Pavan Palletenna, on behalf of the students and Ms. Shrikanthi Abeyratne in a tearful speech on behalf of the teachers, thanked the Rector for all he had done for College during his rectorship.

The College Choir, which had received Fr. Rector's benevolent support, then expressed their gratitude in song with the Josh Groban favourite "You Raise Me Up" in a fitting tribute to him. Bishop Emanuel Fernando in his address paid tribute to Fr. Gabriel for his excellent services to St. Peter's and also thanked him for accepting responsibility to serve another institute of learning in the Archdiocese, St. Joseph's. Next Ms. Kumari Karunaratne of the non-academic staff bade emotional farewell thanking Fr. Rector after which Mr. Anura Perera, Vice President of the PTA also thanked Fr. Gabriel on behalf of the PTA.

After a song, specially composed for the occasion, was sung by the teachers, Mr. Suren Herath, President of the Welfare Society addressed the gathering. It is to be mentioned here that most speakers avoided listing of the Rectors achievements at College simply because they were too numerous to mention. It was the turn of the President of the OBU, Dr. Nicholas Jayasekera next and after his address a melodious Sinhala song of appreciation was sung by a student from the Oriental Choir.

Fr. Travis then addressed those present and thanked the Lord Almighty for directing his life and giving him the opportunity to serve an institute like St. Peter's. Coincidentally this day being the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, he said that he had always felt that the Blessed Mother was with him at all times. His vision, he said was that St. Peter's should be a school of excellence and he believed that this had been achieved to a great extent. Addressing the students gathered for the occasion, he urged them to make use of the opportunity of being Peterites to become worthy citizens and emulate the example of many of the distinguished Old Peterites present.

A standing ovation was accorded to Fr. Rector at the end of his speech which was followed by presentation of sheaves of betel by students and presentations of mementos, souvenirs, albums, etc., by Mr. Suranga Seneviratne (a past President of the OBU who had also been a student of Fr. Gabriel), Fr. Lakmin Silva, Fr. Sharm Dassanayake and Fr. Crispin Leo. At the conclusion of the presentations Mas. Shahen Yatagama, Head Prefect of College, proposed the vote of thanks. With the conclusion of the ceremony at the quadrangle, the guests were invited to the College Hall where Fr. Rector unveiled a portrait of himself as one among many other past Rectors who had rendered yeomen service to College to bring it to its present state from humble beginnings way back in 1922.

A power point presentation by the students, of Fr. Rector's achievements at College brought the mornings proceedings to a close.

(See pictures in the OBU FB page.)

Courtesy: Algi Wijewickrema Hony. Editor (SPC – OBU)

visit our Website http://stpetersobu.com

"Like" FB Page https://www.facebook.com/obuofstpeterscollege

JPAA Canada launched its new website on Monday, October 7, 2013. Our mandate is to priortize posting news of our association activities since it was formed in 1984. The project is time consuming but we are getting there slowly but surely. In addition to JPAA Canada news, we will also be posting news of our Alma Mater, parent Unions in Colombo and from our overseas branches globally. To this end, we are doing well.

JPAA Canada is pleased to share the good news that it recorded the highest views to our website today – Sunday, February 9, 2014. Total of 245 views as at 12 midnight. This is very encouraging.

It took a lot of planning to get this site up and running. A lot of hard work has gone into a site that is informative, quality driven, and caters to the larger Joe-Pete family worldwide. This is our end objective.

We have got accolades from Old Boys from Colombo, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Wellington (NZ), Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver that the website is great. So, we are so glad that we went ahead and got the site going.

Please visit us regularly for updates. Thank you!

JPAA Canada

www.jpaacanada.com

February 9, 2014 – Courtesy: Roshen Steelman – The Island.

St. Peter’s College won the Singer Schools Under-18 Rugby Championship beating Royal College, Colombo 14 points to five in the grand final worked off at Royal Sports Complex in Colombo on Sunday (9th). St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya displayed a powerful show against Royal College, Colombo in the grand final as they clinched the Singer Schools Under-18 Rugby Championship at Royal Sports Complex yesterday. The final score was 14-5.

St. Peter’s were discipline and displayed a powerful show to score their points through two goals in the 20 minute game while Royal came up with an unconverted try during latter stages of the game. The Peterites dominated proceedings with their big made players and drew the first blood when Avishka Heenpalle ran through the Royal defense to touch town near the left side flag. St. Peter’s skipper Sandesh Jayawickrama added the extra points with a wonderful kick as the score read 7 points to nil early in the first-half. During the latter part of the second-half, Heenpalle got into act again running between the gaps to touch under post. Jayawickrama cleared the easy kick and the score was in favour of the visitors 14 nil at the half way mark. In the second-half, Royal tried their best. St. Peter’s defense, however, was solid. Their tight defense was finally broken as Kashyapa Wijesinghe came up with a try as he touched down near the right of the flag.

Isipatana College won the Plate Championship beating Trinity College, Kandy 19 points to 12. Patana collected their points through two goals and an unconverted try while Trinity scored a goal and an unconverted try.

The Bowl Championship was won by Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa who defeated Vidyartha College, Kandy 20 points to nil. Prince of Wales scored four unconverted tries to collect their ultimate score.

The Shield was won by Lalith Athulathmudali College, Mount Lavinia who overcame St. John’s College, Nugegoda 24 points to ten.

The Tournament was conducted by Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association.

Responding to a news report headlined ‘St. Joseph’s College Rector transferred to Aquinas’, published in the Sunday Times of January 12, the Rector, Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe, has sent the following reply.

“I write in reference to an article published in the ‘Sunday Times’ 0f January 12. The article is obviously damaging to my good name and reputation and it has damaged the reputation of the College, a College which has set benchmark standards in Catholic education over the past 117 years.

“It is rather strange that the writer of that article did not have the common courtesy to contact me and get my side of the story in which I have been vilified to such an extent.

“Had the writer contacted me, I would have explained my position which would have been identical to that which appeared in the ‘Catholic Messenger’ of January 26, the official organ of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, wherein His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith categorically states thus: ‘In doing so the transfer of Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe to the Aquinas University College was done in consideration of his eminent suitability for such work, with his long years of service and laudable performance in the education sector.’

“The article infers that there was monetary misappropriation. The Cardinal has made it abundantly clear by stating: ‘No other motive can be attributed to this’, referring to the transfer. He goes on to elaborate stating, ‘I need to set out that a Commission had been initiated with regard to 51 allegations made against Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe, by some Old Boys of the OBU of the College. These include inter alia financial misappropriation.’

“The Commission has not found the Rector guilty of any of those allegations levelled against him. Now comes the sentence which puts to rest the malicious intentions of whoever fed the story to your reporter and the gullibility of the reporter or his bravado of ‘Publish and be damned’. The sentence reads, ‘In the circumstances, I am completely satisfied with the honesty and integrity of Rev. Fr. Sylvester.’
“The Cardinal finally states, ‘Moreover, Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe was Rector of St. Joseph’s College for a period of eight years during which time he rendered commendable service to St. Joseph’s College and brought it to a very high level of education and extra-curricular excellence in every field.’

“I trust you will recognise that the article published in your issue of January 12 has done irreparable damage to me and that you will give this article the same prominence which is a matter of asking for justice.”

Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel becomes the 13th Rector of St. Joseph's College, Colombo.

The Council of Management of the Old Boys' Union are hosting an event to welcome the 13th Josephian Rector on Monday, February 10th at 6:30 pm at the College Chapel followed by a reception at the Bonjean Hall.

All Members of the Council of Management of the Old Boys' Union and their spouses are cordially invited to attend. Outgoing Rector, SJC Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe will also be felicitated on this day. See notice below.

2013/14 Schools Cricket season is playing around the island in full throttle with crowd pleasing Cricket being played by many Colombo teams. We take a glance at a team which is one of the most pioneer cricket playing schools in Sri Lanka and that is none other than St. Peter’s College, Colombo 4.

St. Peter’s are very strong in Junior Cricket and that foundation has led to few under 19 championships winning outfits in the recent past and with an excellent bunch of young Cricketers in their artillery this season will be no difference for the lads from Bambalapitiya.

History

St. Peter’s College started playing Cricket from the late 1920’s and since then have gradually become a dominant force in Sri Lanka Schools Cricket. They have produced many great Cricketers in the likes of Roy Dias, Tony Opatha, Rumesh Rathnayake, Amal Silva, Vinodhan John, Russell Arnold, Malinda Warnapura, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Angelo Perera who have brought glory to their alma mater and to Sri Lanka. 

St. Peter’s have always been the stepping stone for many talented and exquisite first class players who are always up on the big stage of excellence. The Peterite Cricket has had many golden era’s standing out is 1978-1980 where they were pretty much unbeatable. 

Recently St. Peter’s have completely dominated Under 19 Schools Cricket where they have had tasted success in all forms of the game such as traditional 2 day league, 50 over tournaments, 20/20 tournaments and 6 a side tournaments in Sri Lanka.

Re-Cap of 2012/13 season

Under the leadership of all- rounder Dushan Hemantha, Peterites had an outstanding season registering 6 outright wins and they won the under 19 limited over tournament beating St. Benedict’s College in the final. Skipper Dushan scored more than 700 runs with 2 centuries to his name while he took close to 40 wickets. St. Peter’s College had few very talented players in their ranks such as Julian De Zilva (57 wickets), Shasheen Fernando (over 600 runs), Lahiru Milantha (over 600 runs) who was the mainstream of the Peterite winning flow last year. All the above players are currently playing the SLC Premier League tournament this season.

Current 2013/14 season

St. Peter’s College have played 10 matches so far registering 2 outright wins and all the other games have been ended as drawn matches. Peterites recorded their 2 wins against De Mazenod College when they beat the team from Kandana by 141 runs while they beat their familiar foes Isipathana College by 2 wickets in a close thrilling encounter. Before the start of the Under 19 Division 1 Season, St. Peter’s College won their 2nd Murali Harmony Cup.

St. Peter’s College is one of the few teams who have not been defeated during the ongoing 2013/14 cricket season. St. Peter’s College will look to register 3 or more wins in the upcoming games and their main target will be to have 5 wins under their belt before going against their formidable brothers school St. Joseph’s College for the Rev.Fr Maurice Le-Goc Trophy, 80th Joe-Pete Battle of the Saints in March and as always they will be keen to record another victory in this traditional rivalry. 

Stand out Captain – Kavinda De Thissera

Right handed middle order batsman Kavinda De Thissera has been bestowed with the responsibility of leading one the finest college cricket teams in Sri Lanka. Kavinda is a 4th year coloursmen and he is the most experienced player this season for Peterites and he will look to bring all his experience into count in order to nurture a champion side. Kavinda has scored nearly 400 runs this season with a century to his name and his main target will be to lead his team to as many wins as possible and personally to score more than 650 runs this season.

Super Vice Captain – Janith Liyanage

Janith Liyanage is by far one of the most exciting fast bowling all-rounders in the current schools cricket circuit. He scored nearly 600 runs last season and this season he has amassed over 450 runs in 7 games including a brilliant 145 runs against St. Sebastian College last week. He missed few games to play Sri Lanka under 19 national trials. Janith Liyanage is very unfortunate to miss out on the ICC Under 19 World Cup squad. 

Janith Liyanage playing his 3rd year will be the showstopper for St. Peter’s with his all round abilities to bowl nippy fast mediums with the new ball and to make match winning knocks in the coming games.

Trusted Trio of Dineth, Chemila & Sahan 

St. Peter will be hoping for the trusted trio of Dineth Thimodya, Chemila Obeysekara and Sahan Nanayakkara to strike big as they have had a very decent and successful season so far. Dineth Thimodya the left handed opening batsman has scored over 750 runs in 11 games with 2 superb centuries and Dineth will be itching to reach the magical figure of 1000 runs at the end of the season. Tall, lanky left arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkara has taken close to 60 wickets in 11 matches and he will be the main strike bowler for St. Peter’s College during this season. Chemila Obeysekara will be the spearhead of the Peterite attack and he has taken over 30 wickets with the new ball and with his accurate line and length combined with his dangerous late swing, he can be a lethal bowler on his day.

Youth Prospects for the Season

Hashan Wanasekara is a well organized stylish left hand opening batsman who is the opening partner of Dineth Thimodya while Chandula Jayamanne another promising all round component of the Peterite team will bat in the middle order and he will give his team stability with his right arm medium seamers while being the 3rd seaming option for Kavinda to use. Oshan Karunarathne will handle the things from behind the wickets while he can be very useful with the bat. Sanjula Madushan and Didulana Mendis are the other two new comers for this St. Peter’s College team and both these new comers will have a big part to play as middle order batsman while Vinu Mohotty is another fresher who will be the lone off spinner of this team.

The Peterite Head Coach Mr. Keerthi Gunaratne expressed his views to www.thepapare.com on his motive as the head coach “ We want to play positive cricket. Our main aim is to produce Cricketers who can play up to National level. If we bat positively, bowl positively we can have positive results as wins. “

Speaking to www.thepapare.com St.Peter’s College captain Kavinda de Thissera made his intentions clear “ We want to win 5 matches outright, the Spirit within the team is very good, I’m happy to lead this side. Main aim is to win the Big Match “

Full Squad

1. Kavinda De Thissera – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
2. Janith Liyanage – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
3. Chemila Obeyesekere – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
4. Sahan Nanayakkara – Left Hand Batsman – Slow Left Arm Leg Spin
5. Dineth Thimodya – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
6. Chandula Jayamanne – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
7. Oshan Karunarathne – Right Hand Batsman – Wicket Keeper
8. Hashan Wanasekara – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Leg Spin
9. Didulana Mendis – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Leg Spin
10. Sanjula Madushan – Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
11. Vinu Mohotti – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
12. Savin Gunasekara – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
13. Taneesha Weerakoon – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Off Spin
14. Naveen Dharshana – Right Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast
15. Sachin Dalpathadu – Right Hand Batsman – Left Arm Chinamen
16. 16. Manelka De Silva –Left Hand Batsman – Right Arm Medium Fast

Coaching Staff

• Coach – Keerthi Gunaratne 
• Assistant Coaches – Kitto Fernandopulle, Piyal Salgado and Shanaka Fernando
• Manager – Mahesh de Silva
• MIC – Sanath Chinthaka

Remaining Fixtures

• January 24/25 vs Prince of Wales College at Moratuwa.
• January 31/February 01 vs St. Thomas College at Mount Lavinia.
• February 14/15 vs St. Benedict’s College at (SPC Hosted Ground)
• Feburary 21/22 vs St. Anthony’s College at Katugasthota
• February 26/27 vs Gurukula College at (SPC Hosted Ground)
• March 7/8 : vs St. Joseph’s College (Big Match) at P. Sara Oval
• March 15 : vs St. Joseph’s College (One day) at R. Premadasa Stadium

Courtesy: Reemus Fernando – Sunday Island – January 29, 2014.

St. Peter’s College, captained by colursman Kavinda de Tissera are unbeaten this season.

They have scored two outright victories and have had held the upper hand against their opponents in most of their outings. However, analyzing the strengths of the team consisting of some formidable bowlers and dependable batsmen makes one wonder whether the report card of the team portrays the true strength of the team. According to coach Keerthi Gunaratne, the team has always been encouraged to play positive. "If you look at the scores you will see that we have scored over 300 runs in just two sessions, most of the time," says Gunaratne, whose ‘mantra’ has been to play positive, since he took over as St. Peter’s coach, a few years ago.

True, apart from their outright victories against De Mazenod College, Kandana and Isipatana College, the Petes have done well on several other occasions.

St. Peter’s Squad: Kavinda de Tissera (Captain), Janith Liyanage (V. Capt), Hashan Wanasekara, Dineth Thimodya, Sanjula Madusanka, Didulana Medis, Chandula Jayamanne, Oshan Karunaratne, Chemila Obeysekara, Sahan Nanayakkara, Vinu Mohotti, Saveen Gunasekara, Sachin Dalpadado, Naveen Dharshana, Manilka de Silva and Thaneesha Weerakoon. (Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)

The matches against D. S. Senanayake College and Maris Stella College are cases in point. They bundled out Maris Stella for a scanty 47 runs and forced the follow on. D. S. Senanayake were bowled out for 143 runs and were forced to follow on.

On as many as eight occasions, (against Wesley, St. Aloysius’, Joseph Vaz, Ananda, Maris Stella, DSS, St. Sebastian’s and Prince of Wales), the Petes had the first innings lead, but Gunaratne is the least interested over the points earned by team. "We hardly look at the points table. Playing for points rather discourages positive play," opines Gunaratne.

St. Peter’s have emerged as a strong batting outfit this season, with Dineth Thimodya, Janith Liyanage, Sanjula Madushan, Didulana Medis and skipper Kavinda de Tissera scoring the bulk of runs.

Thimodya is in good form, leading the list as highest run getter with over 700 runs, while Liyanage, Madushan and Tissera are around the 400 run mark. Medis, who started off recently has a better average than anyone in the team.

Tissera missed several matches, but is back in the side.

In the bowling department, the spinners have been the leading wicket takers with left arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkara leading the tally with over 60 wickets. Off spinner Vinu Mohotti has a tally of over 30 wickets and has supported Nanayakkara ably. Their pace attack is spearheaded by Chemila Obeysekara, deputy skipper Liyanage and Chandula Jayamanna. Obeyesekere has a tally of over 30 wickets.