(December 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Father Mervyn Fernando was in Bandarawela when my wife and I were on holiday in Haputale with our children. I wanted to show my wife where I had spent a good part of my childhood, which is now the Bandarawela St Thomas’ College Preparatory School. There he was seated with youth of different ages playing cricket. We sat near him and soon we both entered into a long discussion.
I cannot remember the exact year, but it was in the seventies. Father was running a holiday camp. My wife remembered his name coming up frequently in letters from school - that Father was giving a talk to parents and ‘all were welcome’. But, my wife hadn’t attended any one of them. After that day, she went to every talk!
I first heard of Father Mervyn from my brother-in-law, Martin Ridgeon, a British diplomat, who was then working in the Foreign Office. His colleague, like Father Mervyn, was a dedicated student of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose work Father Mervyn had started reading from younger days. In fact, he is today a world authority on this French Philosopher.
Our friendship flourished from Bandarawela and today hardly a week passes without a visit from Father Mervyn which I look forward to very much. I learn so much from him. What he feels about God, and what God may feel about him, never comes up in the conversation. It is always an amazing chat on life and matters.
Extraordinary human
The personality of this extraordinary human is too fascinating for words. He stands out as one of the great intellectuals of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka. When he is speaking to intellectual giants like Sir Arthur Clarke, Dr Ray Wijewardene or Judge Christie Weeramantry the tone of the voice and the attention of the mind are the same as when chatting with a young student. It is a trained and disciplined mind with a big heart that listens and prods one to examine problems from diverse perspectives.
Naturally, his home would have nurtured and fostered open mindedness - especially an Uncle, Fr. Romauld, who loved outdoor life. The young boy grew to love nature - valleys, rivers and waterfalls, fauna and flora - about which he later wrote with such devotion and authority. They reflect the experiences and insights of marathon walks Mervyn undertook covering 20, 30 and 40 miles.
He entered the religious life early, at St. Aloysius’, the minor seminary in Borella. This was, in effect, a boarding school with religious "extras", like meditation, spiritual reading and Mass. Under the influence of a giant among men, Rector Fr. D. J. Nicholas Perera, a man of science and a close friend of Sir Baron Jayatilleke and E.W.Perera he thrived, and discovered his interest in science. For the practicals he went to St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road.
Astronomy was hard on the heels of science, and he graduated over the years to take over the mantle of being the doyen of the trade from another man of Religion, the Cambridge Wrangler Rev W.J. Small of Richmond College, Galle.
Young astronomers like Dr. Kemal de Soysa, who have in recent years done doctoral theses on the stars and galaxies at eminent Universities, had their first initiation with the telescopes under the guidance of Father Mervyn at Subhodhi..
St Joseph’s College, was where Father Mervyn furthered his studies in the Sciences and Mathematics, sharing his desk with Prof. Carlo Fonseka. Another classmate was Dr. Roland Silva, who later became the Commissioner of Archeology. Father Mervyn never forgets what he owes Mr. Arumugam, who not only fired his interest in Physics but made him take it as his prime subject.
From St Joseph’s, his pilgrimage in academia commenced; first, it was the study of Philosophy that he pursued at the Major Seminary on the other side of Archbishop’s House, Maradana Road. Here he moved to Cosmology which gelled with his interests in Science. All the books were in Latin!
Then came five years at the new National Seminary of Our Lady of Lanka, Ampitiya, Kandy in September, 1955, made up of one year in Philosophy and four years of theology. His Rector was Fr. Sackett, musician, artist and a highly cultured individual. Also there were Fr. Forbes, a fine all-round thinker, and Father Heemrood, who acted as the spiritual director. The others who influenced his studies were Fathers Joachim Pillai, Jim Cooke, Martin Quere and Michael Rodrigo.
Study, meditation and prayer need wonderful surroundings otherwise distraction is easy. Luck would have it that the Seminary had a building with solid wooden floors, Gothic architecture, a fine double-floor library, and stunning scenic natural views overlooking Dumbara valley, Mahaweli, Hunasgiriya and Knuckles. He breathed the history-laden air of Kandy. Father Mervyn often returns for spiritual refreshment to this haven and is welcomed by the Rector, Father Jayakody.
If we go back some years we see Mervyn’s beloved parents, devout Roman Catholics, who gently bade their son goodbye as he left home for the priesthood.
We see parents listening to their children and giving them freedom. His father stands out among his reminiscences. The father bestowed on his son a passionate love for books and great interest in cricket. Mr Fernando had been an outstanding first eleven cricketer in his time at Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa.
It’s a fact that when one meets a priest one wonders what his mother was like and what she felt about her son entering the priesthood. Father Mervyn’s mother was a simple lady of great practical common sense. She was courageous and not afraid to take risks. She didn’t smother her children, fussing over every sneeze and cough. The greatest honour Father Mervyn has had was the caring and looking after of his mother in the last year of her life at Subodhi. Many of us long to have said ‘we should have done this’ but were unable to do so. Father Mervyn did it.
Cardinal Cooray looms in the thoughts of Father Mervyn as he looks back at his 50 years of serving humanity through the priesthood. He received his priestly Ordination at his hands, as Archbishop of Colombo, at St. Lucia’s Cathedral in Dec.1959.
It was Cardinal Cooray who sent Mervyn to Rome for post-graduate studies in 1961. He wanted him to read for a doctorate in Canon Law. He reveled in the beauty of Italy and Europe and the US, basking in the new cultures at his disposal.
When he returned in 1965, he was appointed the Officialis or Presiding Judge of the Matrimonial Tribunal of the Diocese. Simultaneously, he was Warden of the Catholic Hostel, Aquinas Hall, Chaplain to the University of Colombo and Parish Priest of Kullupitiya.
Again, Cardinal Cooray stepped in and granted him permission to go to New York and enroll at Fordham University, for a Master’s degree.
At this point, Mervyn continued his study of the world of Teilhard de Chardin. He had got into the mind and heart of the man, scientist, philosopher, theologian and mystic through his opus magnum "The Phenomenon of Man" and other works. An outstanding Teilhard scholar and President of the US Teilhard Association, Dr. Ewert Cousins, became a kind of guru to Mervyn. His deep interest in the future of humankind naturally stems from Teilhard. Every year Father Mervyn arranges a public event to celebrate the life of Teilhard. This year the keynote address was made by his friend, Judge C.G.Weeramantry.
In the field of Psychology, Mervyn was influenced by the writings of Abraham Maslow, Victor Frankl and Erich Fromm. Carl Jung provoked thinking with his very wide-ranging reflections. In the area of counseling, it was mostly Rollo May.
Aurobindho and Rabindranath Tagore have also proved to be a rich resource of influence especially on the subject of on Education, which is one of his major concerns. Education in its integral, holistic focus was what inspired Father Mervyn to establish the Subodhi Institute.
In Science, the iconic figure for him has been Einstein, not only for his revolutionary findings on space and time, mass and energy, the velocity of light and so on, but also for his active humanitarian concerns; he was more than just a great scientist, but also a philosopher and humanist.
In Astronomy, not only his head but his heart, too, is with that brilliant and lovable character Johannes Kepler, who more than Galileo and Copernicus, fathered modern planetary Astronomy.
An allied subject Cosmology is really fascinating today with a number of first class books coming out all the time by eminent authors, John Barrow, Roger Penrose, Paul Davies, Brian Greene, to name a few of them.
Finally, his exploration into modern philosophy which led him to the discovery of Ken Wilber, an outstanding thinker of our times, who has shone the light of his keen and sharp intellect on a wide range of subjects. In fact, he has been hailed as a modern Socrates.
Marriage and family life have been major concerns because Mervyn sees that the psycho-social growth of the human person is nurtured in the bosom of the family. The future of the child is blighted when this goes askew.
The Gospel of St. John has the words, "I came to give life and give it in abundance", how many or really how few come to that abundance of life, asks Father Mervyn.
We fail to realize how much children are in our hands and we adults can make or break their lives. To repair damage, which may have occurred, is sometimes impossible. Father Mervyns firmly believes that education or school has to go together with home and family. Teachers and parents have to work together. Constantly, he talks of "Guru, deguru". The Subodhi and the Family Studies and Services Institute, complement each other’s services and programs.
Fifty years of priestly work
Father Mervyn’s fifty years of priestly work have deeply and sincerely brought unity and harmony wherever he walks. He accepts that the culture of the country is by and large Buddhist. He has studied Buddhism at the post-graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist studies of the University of Kelaniya.
Professor Ninian Smart, is an authority on comparative religions, and has a high regard for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan students. He wrote a flattering foreword to Mervyn’s book In Spirit and in Truth.
Contact and interaction between religions is being promoted by Mervyn, through the work of the Congress of Religions. He sees himself as a student of theology, naturally as a priest he has to be that.
Another who has stimulated Mervyn’s brain is Raimondo Panikkar,whom he met at Bede Griffith’s ashram Shanthivanam, off Trichy in India..
Mervyn admits about his ignorance of Sri Lanka until he began traveling the world and on his return he started collecting and reading books on Sri Lanka and discovering his motherland. He traversed the length and breadth of the island on his motor-bike. Imperceptibly his collection of books grew, and his knowledge of the country expanded. He has produced a Guide to Sri Lanka, published in 1974, as the Moonstone Guide to Sri Lanka, with the collaboration of Harrison Peiris, a journalist. He has published This Piece of Planet Earth: Sri Lanka, and Dancing Waters, Liquid Light, on the waterfalls of Sri Lanka.
He wants more people interested in helping young Sri Lankans to grow into fine citizens; most of all to be mahatmas or great souls, an asset to themselves and the country. Very few have read and digested the happenings of the Universe as Father Mervyn has done in his life time. He is today 75-years of age, and this December he celebrates 50 years as a Roman Catholic Priest. I see in him an outstanding intellectual of our times. I am humbled, as hundreds of others to have the precious friendship of Father Mervyn – an extraordinary, holy man.
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