Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph, the first Priest of Eldeniya Parish, passed away yesterday morning. He was 85.
He was a respected religious leader who served as the inaugural parish priest, leaving behind a legacy of faith and service to the community.
On December 19, 1970, the late Thomas Cardinal Cooray ordained Fr. Benedict as a Priest of the Catholic Church at St. Lucia’s Cathedral, Kotahena. Since then he has served as a TV, radio, cinema and print media personality in Sri Lanka.
He was a treasure trove of media experience and knowledge in overall social communications media, whether in print, radio, television or cinema. He was consulted by many media personalities in Sri Lanka as well as Asia.
During his long career as a media personality and a teacher he has served as the Editor of Gnanartha Pradeepaya, the oldest Sinhala newspaper in Sri Lanka, the Director of the Catholic Press and the Social Communication Centre (SCC) in Borella.
He also organised the annual SIGNIS/OCIC Film Awards, and was directly responsible for the Catholic television and radio programmes over Rupavahini, ITN, SLBC and Radio Veritas (RV) Manila.
Fr. Benedict represented Sri Lanka at several Catholic international, worldwide media conferences.
During the eighties and the nineties, Fr. Benedict Joseph was a member of the Sinhala Dictionary Advisory Committee, Catholic-Christian Advisory Committee and Committee for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Tele-drama Script Committee and the Advertisement Inquiry Board of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.
He was a panel member of the Programme Previewers of the ITN and a member of the Sri Lanka Kala Mandalaya. He was the Chief Media Coordinator during the visit of the Holy Father, St. John Paul ll to Sri Lanka in 1995.
Fr. Benedict produced a movie and a serialised tele-drama on the Life of St. Joseph Vaz. He is the first person to produce a TV Studio Mass in Sri Lanka and the person who introduced the bi-monthly TV programme “Supuwatha” which touched on current national and international events in the Catholic Church.
Final rites would be held at the Borella cemetery at 3 pm today.