Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Bodo language (pronounced Bo-ro) of Tibetan-Burmese ethnic-linguistic origin, is one of various official languages spoken in India by about 600,000 people: in the state of Assam, on the southern banks of the Brahmaputra River, in West Bengal, in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, in the district of Chandel in Manipur, in the district of West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, and by about 3,000 people in Nepal.
The Catholic diocese of Bongaigaon was created on 10 May 2000 with territory taken from the archdiocese of Guwahati of which it is suffragan with the dioceses of Dibrugarh, Diphu, Itanagar, Miso, Tezpur. Bongaigaon diocese comprises the following civil districts of the Assam State: Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta and Nalbari (the latter except for the area of Kumarikatta parish).
The diocese was created for the following reasons: the great extension of the diocese of origin rendered pastoral work difficult particularly north of the Brahmaputra River; a desire to develop the north eastern part of the archdiocese, today the autonomous territory of Badoland; promote the cultural development of the peoples of Badoland.
To the north the diocese borders on the Kingdom of Bhutan (under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Darjeeling), to the east and south it borders with the archdiocese of Guwahati, to the west with the State of West Bengal and the diocese of Jalpaiguri.
Assam is one of eight eastern States in India, the other being Arunachal Pradesh, il Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim. It borders on two other countries Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The beginnings of the Catholic community in north east India- In 1846 Pope Gregory XVI entrusted the pastoral care of Tibet and Assam to the Paris Foreign Missions and the first Catholic Mission was opened in 1890. Today in the area there are 15 dioceses, and about 1.5 million Catholics. The Catholic Church in north east India hopes to collaborate in the evangelisation of neighbouring countries, such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar and Tibet. (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/7/2007; righe 27, parole 360)
