Gregory Shantha Kumar Francis (

B.Th. The Bachelor of Theology degree (BTh, ThB, or BTheol) is a three- to five-year undergraduate degree in Theology, theological disciplines and is typically pursued by those seeking ordination for ministry in a church, denomination, or parachurch org ...

, PGDip.P&CC), was an Anglican

Bishop of Kurunegala The Diocese of Kurunegala is a diocese of the Church of Ceylon (which is part of the Anglican Communion). The See was erected in 1950 from that of the Diocese of Colombo, as one of two dioceses of the Church of England in Ceylon S ...

, Sri Lanka. Gregory Shantha Kumar Francis was born in 1955 in the village of Polgahawela, Sri Lanka. He is an upcountry Tamil, and fluent in Sinhala, English and Tamil. Francis was appointed as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1978, receiving his Bachelor of Theology from the

University of Serampore , founders = William Ward, William Carey, & Joshua Marshman , religious_affiliation = Baptist , rector = , location = 8, William Carey RoadSerampore – 712201West Bengal, India , established = , principal = Vansanglura Va ...

the same year. In 1980 he obtained a postgraduate diploma in pastoral and clinical counselling from

Nawa Jeewana Institute Nawa may refer to: * Nawa, Rajasthan, a city and Tehsil in Nagaur district in the Indian State of Rajasthan * Nawa District, a district in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan * Nawa, Afghanistan, a town in the central part of Nawa District, in Ghazni Pr ...

of Psychology, Colombo and was ordained as a priest in the Church of Ceylon. He was the chaplain at Hillwood College, Kandy (1993–2000),

Trinity College, Kandy Trinity College, Kandy, is an independent private school for boys in Kandy Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1872 by British Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, modelled on Public School (United Kingdom), British Public school tradi ...

(2001–2004). Francis also obtained a higher diploma in comprehensive drug abuse prevention and counselling from the Anti Narcotic Association of Sri Lanka. On 7 November 2010

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bi ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Francis as the fifth

in the Church of Ceylon, succeeding retired Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe. In 2012, Francis was nominated by the International Counter Narcotic Association to be a consultant on rehabilitation and counselling. On 6 January 2015 the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is a British bishop who is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. He has served in that role since 2013. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam, Warwickshire, and then Bishop of Durham, serving for ...

, announced that Francis had resigned as Bishop of Kurunegala. In a statement by Francis he advised that he had been threatened by Tamil diaspora groups opposing his stand for a unitary state and the sovereignty of the country. Francis is married to Priyadharshin and has two sons, Prabath and Pramith.

References

External links

The Church of Ceylon (Anglican Communion)

Anglican Church of Ceylon News

20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia Sri Lankan Anglican bishops Sri Lankan educational theorists Sri Lankan chaplains Anglican chaplains Sri Lankan Tamil priests Anglican bishops of Kurunegala 1955 births Living people {{Anglican-bishop-stub