News & Events
Village in Bangladesh Joins the Catholic Church
December 23, 2003
On December 22, 2003, 83 Santal people joined the Catholic Church at TULSIPUR Village under Nijpara Parish of Dinajpur Diocese. Bishop Moses Costa CSC, the Bishop of Dinajpur Diocese welcomed them. Their preparation to join the Church began 1997. Of these new Christians, the oldest one is about 65 years old and the youngest one is about 7 months infant. Out of these 83, 29 are women.Bishop Moses also blessed and inaugurated a village church (chapel) at TULSIPUR. This chapel was named "Mary, the Mother of Grace". The villagers of Tulsipur are very happy to have a new church in their village and at the same time getting more people in the Church.
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TULSIPUR is a village under Nijpara Parish. This village is about 35 KM north from Dinajpur Bishop's House and about 12 KM from Nijpara Parish Centre. In 1999 the first baptism was held in this village. The Shanti Rani Sisters are working here.
The daylong program started with the welcoming of the guests at 9:30 am. Bishop Moses offered the Holy Mass along with 5 priests and 1 deacon. Father Manuel Marandy, the parish priest of Nijpara welcomed all the people. "Today we are very happy because we got shelter in the Christ" Bishop Moses told the people in his Homily. During the Mass, the Sacrament of Baptism was celebrated and the newly built church was blessed. After the Mass, a cultural program was performed. Fathers Bijoy Periera, Joseph Murmu, Simon Minj, Lazarus Soren, Deacon Raphael, 4 Shanti Rani Sisters and about 350 people joined to this program.
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More than 35 families of 3 nearby villages of Tulsipur are preparing to join the Catholic Church.