Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dinajpur (Agenzia Fides) – This will be another sign of hope and a light that will shine in the Diocese of Dinajpur: the new church recently consecrated in the city of Jamtuli. The church will be a center for spreading the message of Christ, contributing to the evangelization of the Mission of Pathorghata. Several days ago, priests, missionaries, and religious, along with over 700 faithful gathered in Jamtuli, with Bishop Moses Costa of Dinajpur, to celebrate the consecration of the new church.
According to a report from the “Banglanews,” the Oraon Tribe, which lives in the area, greeted the Bishop with dances and later with the symbolic rite of the washing of the feet. This was followed by the classic “tape-cutting” prior to the blessing of the new church and the subsequent Mass.
The project was organized thanks to contributions from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), along with proceeds from the small-scale Missionary Congress held in Ducenta (Italy) in 2007.
The Diocese of Dinajpur also witnessed another event of great joy: the opening of a new Poor Clare Monastery, home to 11 Sisters. It has become a reference point for the faithful, with its prayer and adoration (see Fides 26/2/2009).
The Diocese of Dinajpur has a population of over 15.5 million people, 44,000 of whom are Catholic. There are nearly 700 baptisms each year and evangelization among the tribes is bearing fruit.
The Christian message reached Dinajpur thanks to PIME missionaries who arrived in 1855. Today, the Catholic faithful of the Diocese are mainly of Bengali origin, descendants of the first Christians baptized by Portuguese missionaries in the late 1400s. In the north, the Christians are the fruit of a more recent evangelization and come from the following tribes: Oraon, Santal, Munda, dai Paharia, Mahali.
The indigenous minority, in a country with a large Muslim majority, are always subject to harassment, limitations, injustice, and discriminations. The conversion to Christianity makes the tribes more aware of their rights and dignity, as persons and as children of God. The missionaries aid in their social, economic, and cultural development, especially through education. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 9/6/2009)
