By Ajit Paul THIMPHU (UCAN) -- Christ stays at a hotel in Thimphu, capital of Bhutan, although Christianity is forbidden in the Himalayan kingdom where Buddhism is the state religion.

Through Jesuit Father Joseph Kinsley's royal connections, a Catholic chapel was built in the defunct Hotel Dichen and opened in 1995, helping Bhutan's minuscule Catholic community set down roots in the nation.

Father Kinsley, the first native Bhutanese Catholic priest, is a cousin of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, and the queen mother has "great affection" for him despite his change of religion, according to Chacko Aloysius, an Indian.

"We can call it a royal chapel, although it is Jesuit property," Aloysius, who works for the United Nations in Thimphu, told UCA News in late April.

"Hotel Dichen was once famous in Thimphu. Now it has become Christ's residence," he remarked.

For three decades before 1995, the Blessed Sacrament could be found in Bhutan, but only in the state-owned residence of Father William Mackey, a Canadian Jesuit who worked in the government's education department.

When Father Mackey died in October 1995 and his home was returned to the government, Christians wanted to keep the Blessed Sacrament.

"That is why the Jesuits bought the (old hotel) property and opened the small chapel," Father Kinsley, who now lives in Darjeeling in northeastern India, told UCA News May 19.

Peter Lepcha, the chapel's caretaker, said that he is happy to see "the house of God" the first thing in the morning. "My family is very grateful to God, because we have a good opportunity to serve Jesus," he said.

Every morning, the Lepcha family goes to the chapel and waits for a priest to come from India. "Sometimes it takes several months," Lepcha rued.

Last April, however, was a "golden month," according to the caretaker, the month when Bishop Stephen Lepcha of Darjeeling, whose diocese includes Bhutan, became the first Catholic bishop to visit Thimphu.

Bishop Lepcha, who had come with a priest on the Sunday after Easter, celebrated Mass that day attended by some 50 Christians. He also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation.

"That was the most joyful day we ever had in our Christian life. We never had such an experience in our lives. We felt that Jesus himself had come to us!" Peter Lepcha recounted.

He related that Bishop Lepcha also promised to consult with the Bishop of Jalpaiguri in eastern India, whose parishes are on the way to Thimphu, to arrange for a priest to visit the Bhutanese capital regularly.

Lepcha pointed out that the lack of a Catholic priest has led many Catholics to join Protestant Churches, whose pastors regularly visit the area, and that there are now only six native Bhutanese Catholic families.

He noted, however, that although Christianity is banned in the Land of the Thunder Dragon, which has a population of about 2 million, some 10,000 Christians, mostly of Indian and Tibetan origin, work and live there.

"We have no problem. So far nobody has questioned us," said Lepcha, though admitting that Christianity cannot be proclaimed openly.

Southern Bhutan has a "good number" of Christians who practiced their faith openly till some years back, when officials noticed an elaborate Palm Sunday procession led by a Protestant minister and banned such celebrations, he said.

Still, "we are very happy being Christians and being citizens of Bhutan," declared Simon, who runs a shop in Thimphu, which is in the northwest.

"We love Jesus and at the same time we love our king too. Christians and Buddhists live together. We do not define ourselves, because we are brothers and sisters. Religion cannot divide us," Simon said.

END