A Sombre Moment for me in Little Rome - Negombo

Negombo is sometimes called "Little Rome".  Why you ask?  And why was I feeling sombre ???

Negombo is called Little Rome not because 65% of it's population is Rroman Catholic, but because there are over 25 Roman Catholic Churches in this small city of 145,000.  And many of them are highly ornate, built when the Portuguese Roman Catholics ruled the island. 
Why am I feeling somber?  Because one of these churches is  St Sebastien.  Which was bombed on Easter Sunday 2019. I don't know how many people died or were injured that day.  But it was awful.  I met a woman who survived that tragic incident. Her immediate family survived too.  But she lost other people she cared about.

I haven't visited St Sebastien.  I don't know if we can.  But I walked by without knowing this was the site. And I did visit St Mary's Church, and some others.  They are each beautiful in their own way.  At St Mary's, I briefly spoke to some teenagers dressed in beautiful clothes for a pre-Christmas dance performance.  They were so friendly.  I told them they were lassanayi.  ලස්සනයි  Beautiful. Who could hurt people like that???  It made me cry.

Pictures
1- One of the churches in Negombo Lagoon.  Many of them are this big and ornate.
2- The Virgin outside of this church is ready for everything.  Bad weather, and a party!
3- Look carefully.  Jesus is levitating.  I'm sure the sculptor thought he was being very clever!
4 & 5 - This church was being decorated for a wedding i think.
6- This Jesus seems very dramatic to me.  He was across the street from a very old church that's still used for passion plays.  For real....
7 &8 - There are shrines like these in many locations around Negombo.  Not at every corner, but almost. Some are much smaller, but these big ones aren't rare either....