Fr Bernard Neville Perera

Born in Colombo, Fr Bernard grew up in a devout Catholic family in his hometown of Kelaniya. He was an altar server as a young boy and assisted the local priests, and in his parish by cleaning the church.

At the age of 12, he entered the minor seminary at the suggestion of his father and was ordained a priest on July 28, 1990.

In Colombo, he worked at government schools teaching mathematics, IT, religion, economics, music and science and spent the last 17 years as school principal.

Fr Bernard came to Hobart in 2023 at the invitation of Archbishop Julian with the aim to minister to the faithful.

Fr Bernard is also a skilled musician having studied sacred music in for three years in Rome. He can sing and play the organ.