Anxiety and hope over church schools reopening after attacks

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Catholic officials and parents in Sri Lanka are hopeful that church-run schools will begin to reopen soon for the first time since last month's devastating Easter attacks on churches and hotels.

All of the island nation's schools were set to reopen the day after the bombings following a two-week school break, but they remained closed after the attacks, which killed more than 250 people and injured hundreds more. Government schools reopened last week, but many children stayed home, fearing another attack.

Catholic schools, however, have stayed shut out of fears that other Catholic properties could be targeted in further attacks.

On Sunday, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, gave Sri Lanka's Catholic school administrators permission to reopen on an individual basis in coordination with local security officials.