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Newly-consecrated Bishop James Romen Boiragi of the Diocese of Khulna, Bangladesh |
Photo courtesy: The Pratibeshi (weekly) (Dhaka: June 24, 2012)
Father James Romen Boiragi, the
administrator of the Diocese of Khulna, was consecrated and installed as the fourth
bishop of the diocese on June 15, 2012. He had become the administrator when the
incumbent Bishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze, O.M.I. was nominated the bishop of newly-formed
Diocese of Sylhet on September 30, 2011.
Bishop James Romen Boiragi, born on
May 3, 1955 at Haldibunia Village of Bagerhat District, studied at St. Paul’s
High School (at Shelabunia), Notre Dame College (Dhaka), Holy Spirit Major
Seminary (Dhaka) and was ordained a priest on January 13, 1985. After working
as a pastor at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Khulna he went for higher studies in
Canon Law at Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy, where he attained his Ph.D.
degree in 1996. On his return home, he worked as the Vicar General and Vice
Judicial Vicar of the Tribunal for the Diocese of Khulna, parish priest and
diocesan administrator before being nominated bishop of the diocese on May 2,
2012.
The Diocese of Khulna at a Glance
The Foreign Missionaries of Milan
(PIME) from Italy started their apostolate in parts of the territories, later
included in the newly-formed Diocese of Khulna, in 1855. Later, from 1927 to
1952, the Salesian missionaries from Italy took over the work. Jesuit missionaries
were in charge of the Satkhira parish area from 1918 to 1952.
After the independence of India and
Pakistan from the British rule in August, 1947, a large section of the territory
belonging to the Diocese of Krishnagar fell within the jurisdiction of India
and a small section within Pakistan (East Pakistan). When the Diocese of
Jessore was canonically erected on January 3, 1952 in East Pakistan, the
smaller section of the Diocese of Krishnagar was included in it. On June 14,
1956, the Bishop’s House moved to the larger city of Khulna from Jessore and
the Diocese of Jessore took the new name of ‘Diocese of Khulna.’
Bishop Dante Battaglierin, S.X.
(1952-1969), Bishop Michael Atul D’Rozario, C.S.C. (1970-2005), and Bishop Bejoy
N. D’Cruze, O.M.I. (2005-2012) served this diocese before.
The Diocese of Khulna covers 28,236
square kilometers (10,905 sq. miles) with a Catholic population of 35,152 among
the general population of 14,717,000. The diocese comprises the civil districts
of Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Jessore, Jhenidah,
Norail, Magura, Faridpur and part of Gopalganj.