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Challenges remain as Bangladesh diocese celebrates 25 years

Lack of education, poverty are enduring problems for Rajshahi Catholics
Challenges remain as Bangladesh diocese celebrates 25 years

Young indigenous Catholics perform a traditional dance during Rajshahi diocese's silver jubilee celebration on Sept. 11. (Photo by Rock Ronald Rozario)

Published: September 15, 2015 06:03 AM GMT
Updated: September 14, 2015 10:33 PM GMT

From a modest beginning, the Catholic Church has grown steadily in Bangladesh's predominantly indigenous Rajshahi diocese.

This month, the diocese marked its 25th anniversary since its founding with a celebration at the Good Shepherd Cathedral and a visit from a high-profile cardinal.

But as local Church officials take note of the past, they are also well aware of the pressing problems of the future: education, poverty and land rights.

Catholicism in the Rajshahi area dates back to 1904. But up until 1990, it was part of neighboring Dinajpur diocese. Early success was thanks in large part to the evangelical and pastoral work of European missionaries, particularly the Milan-based Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

In the beginning, the diocese had 26,000 Catholics, mostly from indigenous tribal communities. They were spread across eight parishes and cared for by 10 diocesan and nine missionary priests.

Today, the diocese has more than 64,000 faithful, including about 12,000 Bengali Catholics living in 16 parishes, four quasi-parishes and three mission centers.

"If we look back over the past 25 years, the history of our diocese is a story of growth and development. Today, we have 48 diocesan priests who are not only working within the diocese, but also serving in important posts at the national level," Bishop Gervas Rozario said.

"As we grow and move to maturity, we need to look at our strengths and build on them to become a self-sustaining diocese, not just depending on aid as a mission church," he added.

An indigenous Catholic girl helps celebrate the silver jubilee celebration of Rajshahi diocese on Sept. 11. (Photo by Rock Ronald Rozario)

  

Lack of education

Despite robust spiritual growth, the Rajshahi diocese faces substantial challenges to overcome widespread illiteracy among Catholics.

There are 49 Church-run primary schools, three high schools and a college in Rajshahi. In addition, the Catholic charity Caritas Rajshahi operates 155 preschool and elementary schools.

Yet, 22 percent of Catholics in Rajshahi are completely illiterate, 34.3 percent have studied up to grade five while six percent of school-age children don't go to school at all, according to a diocese census conducted by Caritas in August 2015.

Less than five percent of Catholics have a graduate or post-graduate degrees.

The illiteracy and school dropout rates are higher in 11 predominantly tribal parishes, the survey says.

"The people were all Hindus once ... Missionaries helped them embrace Christianity and grow in spirituality, but expected socio-economic developments have not taken place over the years," said Gabriel Hasdak, 65, a former Caritas official from Good Shepherd Cathedral parish.

"The low literacy rate among tribal Catholics can partly be blamed on them, but also it's a result of a negligent attitude from Church leaders," he said.

Hasdak said there are some mediocre junior high schools (up to grade eight) in tribal Catholic parishes, but all three high schools and a college, which are good institutions, are located in Bengali-majority parishes.

"Sometimes, Church leaders think people won't be loyal to the Church if they become more educated, so they are not serious about higher education for them," Hasdak said.

"This is wrong because educating Bengali Catholics well has helped the Church," he added.

A lack of education among indigenous people is largely due to a lack of awareness, says Suklesh George Costa, education officer at Caritas Rajshahi.

"Most tribal people still don't prioritize education, they think more about earning money. Even if they start going to school, many discontinue at the secondary level and look for jobs," he said.

"People and parish priests in Bengali areas are very serious about education, so they insisted the Church leadership set up high schools. Maybe this was not the case for tribal Catholics," he added.

 

Endemic poverty

Dependent mainly on traditional agriculture and day labor, most indigenous Catholics are poor and lack decent housing and other basic human needs.

Of more than 15,000 Catholic families, 72.9 percent have a monthly income of between 1,000-5,000 taka (US$13-64), according to the Caritas survey.

Some 18.6 percent of families are completely landless while 45.4 percent have homesteads but no land to work.

"Due to a lack of education and other vocational skills, tribal Catholics are still eking out a livelihood from agriculture," said Stephan Hembrom, 60, a tribal leader at the Catholic Church in Dingadoba.

"Agriculture is not as profitable as it used to be, moreover many tribal people are landless and work in the fields for others," he said.

"If Church leaders take their development seriously, only they can help change the lives of these people," he added.

An indigenous Catholic learns vocational skills at Caritas technical school in Rajshahi. (Photo by Stephan Uttom) 

 

Land grabbing

Almost every tribal person in Rajshahi faces the threat of land grabbing by the Bengali-Muslim majority.

Since Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, tribal people have endured many physical attacks, rapes and acts of vandalism as well as the murders of at least 10 activists in land disputes.

Most tribal people migrated to this part of the country from various Indian states during British rule to work on railroad construction and as agricultural workers and day laborers.

The British gave them land to live on and cultivate, mostly with verbal permission. This paperless allocation has contributed to many of the current conflicts.

In the past, tribal people were owners of land, but many today work in fields for Muslims in what has become a tragic turn of events, says Father Harum Hembrom, a Santal tribesman and secretary of the diocesan justice and peace commission.

"People had no land documents at all, so influential Muslims used fake documents and small amounts of money to grab their land," Father Hembrom told ucanews.com.

The church has been offering financial and legal support to people to deal with land problems, but the reality is critical and unfavorable, he said.

"Our land law and legal system are anti-poor, anti-tribal, time consuming and expensive. So poor people can hardly benefit even though we have been trying to help them," Fr. Hembrom said.

"We need to support them more, otherwise one day they will totally landless and forced to leave this country. Churches will be there, but there will be no one to worship in them."

 

Festive occasion

For now, this month's anniversary is a time for celebration. On Sept. 11, some 5,000 Catholics in Rajshahi attended a commemoration at the Good Shepherd Cathedral. 

They cheered as Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and head of the Church's mission aid societies, presided over the special jubilee Mass, attended by seven bishops representing all the country's dioceses, more than 100 priests and more than 300 religious. Cardinal Fernando Filoni's visit to Rajshahi was part of a Sept. 9-13 official trip to Bangladesh.

 

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