Rev. John Selvaratnam celebrates fifty five years as a Minister of the Anglican Church, a truly long innings by any standards. Slowed down over the years but still able to minister as and when needed and called upon.

Fr. John had schooling at St. John's College, Jaffna which over the years produced the vast majority of Tamil clergy for the Anglican Church. From there he proceeded to Bishop's College Calcutta where he obtained his Diploma in Theology. On his return, he was ordained Deacon in 1942 and Priest in 1943.

His first appointment was to his old school as Chaplain where he served for three years and then after a break another two years up to 1950. In the meantime he also passed the Bachelor of Arts degree of London and in 1950 his Diploma in Education from the University of Ceylon, Bachelor of Sacred Theology New York and Master of Divinity also of New York. During his tenure at St. John's as Chaplain he also taught English at the University Entrance (the G.C.E. A/L of today). It was during this time that he decided to go into full time ministry and served many churches as Vicar which included Christ Church Cathedral, Colombo St. Francis of Assisi, Mt. Lavinia, St. John the Baptist, Chundikuli and others. As lecturer at the Divinity School, Colombo he brought to bear all his theological knowledge and experience as a pastor to train young men to the priesthood.

Fr. John was also editor of the Ceylon Churchman for seven years from 1958. He took a keen interest in youth work and was in 1947, President of the Church of Ceylon Youth Movement and University Chaplain, Colombo for a brief period. He was also examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Colombo and Rural Dean of Colombo North for two years from 1969.

In 1965, he was invited to be Warden of St. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, very prestigious and demanding position, which he held till 1969. In 1976, he decided to move out of Sri Lanka and served in Western Samoa both as Vicar of All Saints, Apia and lecturer at the Theo-logical College there. From Western Samoa Fr. John migrated to Australia and was very soon appointed Rector of St. David's, Rock-hampton and later of Christ Church, Marys-ville and St. Paul's, Eurora and founder priest of the Tamil Christian Congregation of Victoria. In 1992 after fifty years in active service he decided to call it a day and is now involved in the healing ministry at St. Stephen's, Mt. Waverly where he has made his home. Both in Colombo and In Rockhampton, he served as an elected member of the Standing Committee of the two Dioceses.

Fr. John's strength was his sermons, at Church services as well as on other occasions, which were apt, to the point and delivered with that sweet persuasive voice which was always appreciated by his audience. When he was down to speak, people expected a strong and meaningful message and he seldom disap-pointed them. Fr. John had a good command of the English language and wrote poetry. He wrote a special hymn to celebrate the 175th anniversary of his Alma master, St. John's which was sung as the commemoration service. Although a master at English, he was equally at home in Tamil while preaching.

Apart from his Ministry in the Anglican Church, Fr. John let his talents in many other directions, serving as Secretary of the Jaffna YMCA and Director of the Board of Governors of the Colombo YMCA. In Australia, he was Chaplain of the Mothers' Union. He was also for some time Chaplain of the University of Ceylon, Colombo.

During these long years in the Sacred Ministry, one cannot forget his partner in life Rathi Handy coming from an illustrious family in Kopay, Jaffna. The Handys spent the thirties and forties in Singapore where her father held a very high position in the Singa-pore government. She with the family returned to Sri Lanka at the end of World War 2. In 1946/47. Mr. Handy took holy orders and served the Church with distinction.

Rathie, in keeping with the Handy tradition was a dynamic perso-nality and no one will doubt the fact that she played a great part in the successful Ministry of Fr. John.

Always by his side and edging him on to greater and greater heights. She took an active part in church life both in Sri Lanka and in Australia and made significant contri-butions to the Church organisations she worked with.

Fr. John and Rathie continue to serve the Church and the Chris-tian Community and may god bless them with many more years of service.

Dr. E. S. Thevasagayam