Father Sebastian Tudu Installed as the New Bishop of the Diocese of Dinajpur

 The consecration ceremony of Bishop Sebastian Tudu

in Dinajpur (January 27, 2012)

 

 Newly-consecrated Bishop Sebastian Tudu

is presenting himself to the audience

 After the consecration: (L-R) Bishop Subrata Howladar, CSC 

(Auxiliary bishop of Chittagong), Bishop Theotonius Gomes, CSC 

(Auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Dhaka),  Archbishop Patrick

 D'Rozario, CSC (of Dhaka),  Bishop Joseph Marino (Apostolic 

Pro-Nuncio or Vatican Ambassador to Bangladesh),  newly-consecrated

 Bishop Sebastian Tudu (of Dinajpur), Bishop Moses Costa, CSC 

(former bishop of Dinajpur and present bishop of Chittagong), 

Bishop Paul Ponen Kubi, CSC (of Mymensingh), 

Bishop Gervas Rozario (of Rajshahi) 

and Bishop Bejoy N. D'Cruze, OMI (of Sylhet)

 Photos @ courtesy of Brother Nirmal Francis Gomes, CSC

With the episcopal consecration on January 27, Father Sebastian Tudu became the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Dinajpur, Bangladesh.

He is the first bishop in Bangladesh to come from the Santal ethnic group, which is one of about 30 ethnic groups in the country.

Bishop Tudu was born on June 26, 1967 in the village of Satana in Ghoraghat Upazilla of Dinajpur District. He belonged to the Mariampur Catholic Church parish. He studied for priesthood at the Holy Spirit Major Seminary in Dhaka and later received his doctorate degree in theology in 2007 from Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy. 

The Diocese of Dinajpur covers an area of 12,638,991 square kilometres with a Catholic population of over 42,000 among the total population of over 16,000,000. In this diocese, one out of 381 persons is a Catholic.

 The Diocese has 14 Catholic Church parishes, three high schools, two vocational schools, 25 primary schools, one hospital, two health centres and six dispensaries.

Previous Bishops of the Diocese of Dinajpur

Among the six previous bishops, the first three were Italians and the last three Bangalis (Bengalees): 

1. Bishop Santino Taveggia, PIME (1927-1928),

2. Bishop Giovanni Battista (John Baptist) Anselmo, PIME (1929-1947),

3. Bishop Giuseppe (Joseph) Obert, PIME (1949-1968),

4. Bishop Michael Rozario (1968-1978), who later became the archbishop of Dhaka,

5. Bishop Theotonius Gomes, CSC (1979-1996), who later became the auxiliary bishop of Dhaka), 

6. Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC (1996-2010), who later became the bishop of Chittagong.