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Bangladesh

Pioneering Italian priest dies in car crash

Updated: October 06, 2009 10:27 AM GMT
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The Church in Bangladesh is mourning an Italian missioner who died following a car accident on the evening of Oct. 5.

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Father Abbiati Giovanni

Xaverian Father Abbiati Giovanni was driving his car when he collided head-on with a truck near Dhaka, sending his vehicle careering into a ditch. The priest later died of excessive bleeding in a clinic in Savar, near Dhaka. He was 61. Jacinta Baroi, 35, a Catholic handicraft worker who was in the car with the priest, suffered serious multiple fractures and is receiving treatment at the Christian Square Hospital in Dhaka. Father Giovanni was well-known and much-loved in the country where he was a pioneer in development and women’s empowerment in southern Khulna diocese. His death was greeted with great sadness. “We are shocked and deeply mourn the death of Father Giovanni who has contributed immensely to Khulna diocese since 1975,” Oblate Bishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze of Khulna said in a condolence message. The prelate was in Dhaka for a meeting and will return to Khulna to preside over the funeral Mass for Father Giovanni, which is scheduled on Oct. 6 at St. Mary’s Church in Muzgunni parish. Father Giovanni was born on April 30, 1948, in northern Italy. He joined the Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions (SX) in 1966 and was ordained a priest on Sept. 30 1973. In 1975, he arrived in a newly independent but politically-troubled Bangladesh and began working in southern Khulna diocese. The priest is credited with enormous contributions in the field of structural development and women empowerment for over 34 years. “He built six churches in Khulna diocese and empowered 10,500 poor women through training and employing them in 17 handicrafts centers,” said Father Noren J. Baidya, assistant parish priest of Muzgunni. “His death is a great loss for the local Church.” Xaverian superior general Father Rino, in his condolence message from Italy, described Father Giovanni as “a really intelligent and competent priest.” Father Rino approved Father Giovanni’s burial in Bangladesh, his home for most of his life. Father Giovanni’s centers in Khulna produce mattresses, sacks and handicrafts materials for export to the United States, Italy and Japan through CORR-The Jute Works (CJW), a Caritas Bangladesh initiative. There are presently 35 Xaverian missioner priests working in Khulna, Mymensingh and Dhaka.
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