Gregory Shantha Kumar Francis

Right Reverend Gregory Shantha Kumar Francis
Anglican Bishop of Kurunegala
Church	Anglican Church of Ceylon
Diocese	Kurunegala
In office	2010 – December 2014
Predecessor	Kumara Illangasinghe
Orders
Ordination	1980 by Lakshman Wickremasinghe
Consecration	21 December 2010
Personal details
Born	1955 (age 62–63) Polgahawela, Sri Lanka
Previous post	Archdeacon

The Most Rev. Gregory Shantha Kumar Francis (B.Th., PGDip.P&CC), was an Anglican Bishop of Kurunegala, 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 in 1978, receiving his Bachelor of Theology from the University of Serampore the same year. In 1980 he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Pastoral and Clinical Counselling from Nawa Jeewana Institute 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 (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 Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Francis as the fifth Bishop of Kurunegala in the Church of Ceylon, succeeding retired Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe.

In 2012, he was nominated by the International Counter Narcotic Association to be a consultant on rehabilitation and counselling.

On the 6 January 2015 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced that Francis had resigned as Bishop of Kurunegala. In a statement by Bishop 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.

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