Poruthotage Raymond Ernest Alexander Fernando, often known simply as Ernest Poruthota, was a Catholic priest.
27 Facts About Ernest Poruthota
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Popularly known as "Priest of the Sinhala Cinema", Poruthota rendered a yeoman service to Sri Lanka's cinema industry and was the founder of Sri Lanka OCIC organization.
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Ernest Poruthota was born on 31 August, 1931 in Marawila, Puttalam as the eldest of the family.
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Ernest Poruthota's father Poruthotage Jokinu Fernando from Boralessa was a teacher at the Government Teachers' College in Maggona before being transferred to Marawila.
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Ernest Poruthota's father has published several books such as Kayika Vidyawa, Saddharma Rathnavali Deepika, Sinhala Mosthara Nirmana and Iganweeme Mooladharma.
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Ernest Poruthota has 3 younger sisters - Stella, Marilyn, Cristobal - and one younger brother, Earl.
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Ernest Poruthota received his primary education at the Marawila Roman Catholic School and then went to Francis Xavier English School in the village.
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Ernest Poruthota was later inducted into the National Diocese of Our Lady of Ampitiya, Kandy.
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Ernest Poruthota then became the pastor of several parishes including Dehiyagatha, Kelaniya, Kalutara Kalmulla, Kotte, Wattala and Dehiwala.
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Ernest Poruthota died on 16 June 2020 at the age of 88 while receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.
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Ernest Poruthota's body was kept at the Archbishop's House until 6:30 pm on Wednesday.
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Ernest Poruthota's remains were then brought to St Philip Mary Church, Katukurunda on 18 June 2020.
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Father Ernest Poruthota was involved in conducting pilgrimages of Sri Lanka in Sinhala language instead of Latin.
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In 1965, Ernest Poruthota wrote two more books, Cardinal Cooray and Kri.
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In 1970, Pope Paul VI visited Sri Lanka and the government asked Father Ernest Poruthota to write a book on Pope's visit.
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Jayalath Balagalla, Ernest Poruthota launched 456-pages and 404-pages books with two-volumes titled Katholika Samaaja Dharshanaya.
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The Most Venerable Mapalagamagama Vipulasara Thero was a close friend of his, where Ernest Poruthota contributed to the Buddhism as well.
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Since the early stages, Ernest Poruthota had a keen interest in cinema.
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Ernest Poruthota left the National Cathedral in 1957 with a broad knowledge of cinema by referring to the English textbook on cinema.
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Ernest Poruthota brought "Sarasaviya" and "Visithura" cinema papers every week.
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Ernest Poruthota was a member of the Arts Forum called Ape Kattiya.
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In 1970, Father Ernest Poruthota pioneered the establishment of the Sri Lankan branch of International Catholic Film Organization when he was a Kelaniya staff member.
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Ernest Poruthota was appointed as the first National Director of the OCIC.
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Father Ernest Poruthota's objective was to establish a system of appreciating the talents of the artists representing the various sectors of local cinema which contributed to the development of good cinema.
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Since 1981, Father Ernest Poruthota took the initiative to present the awards for Sri Lankan Tamil films and short and semi-narratives.
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Ernest Poruthota released the book 26 Weni Chithrapati Waarshikaya about the films of the year 1973.
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Ernest Poruthota retired in 1982 after ten years of service at the Catholic Film Cluster.