For the first time, the Church in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) has ordained women to the deaconate. On March 2, Bishop Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo, ordained four women, Malini Devananda, Gunavathany Selvan, Glory Jeyaraj and Chrandrika Mayarawathi.

Andrea Mann, mission co-ordinator for Asia, South Pacific and the Middle East, attended the ordinations as a partner from the Anglican Church of Canada. The ordination service, which was attended in large numbers, used a "creative and culturally relevant liturgy," said Ms. Mann.

The diocese first decided in 1993 to ordain women, said a press release from the diocese of Colombo. "By an unintended but happy circumstance, the four new women deacons represent four different geographic areas of Sri Lanka," the release noted. One is from the city of Colombo, one from the war-torn north, one from the hill country tea plantations and the fourth from a rural area in the North Central Province.