Archbishop Moses M. Costa, C.S.C., Dies of COVID-19 Complications

Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC, of the Diocese of Dinajpur,
Bangladesh, visiting the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC, in front of the Niagara Falls

Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC (3rd from left) 
with Mrs. Mary D'Costa and her sons Ujjal Peter D'Costa,
and Shouvik Mikhail D'Costa at the Niagara Falls,
Ontario, Canada

Mrs. Mary D'Costa and her son Ujjal Peter D'Costa
with Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC at the Niagara Falls,
Ontario, Canada

Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC (5th from left) and
Mrs. Mary D'Costa (1st from right) pose with some
American visitors at the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

All the photos above by Jerome D'Costa (July 2002)

Archbishop Moses M. Costa, C.S.C., of the Archdiocese of Chattogram (Chittagong), Bangladesh, died on July 13 at the Square Hospital in Dhaka of COVID-19-related multiple strokes caused by a brain hemorrhage. He was 69 years old.

His body was taken to nearby Tejgaon Catholic Church in Dhaka and then to his village home parish church of Tumilia in Gazipur District before his burial at the Chattogram Catholic cathedral graveyard.

On June 13, Archbishop Moses was admitted to the Square Hospital with severe respiratory distress and cough and the following day he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He was recovering from it, but later on July 9 he suffered brain strokes and was put on life support two days later. With the further deterioration of his condition, he was transferred to the intensive care unit where he ultimately died.

He was well-known in Bangladesh for his selfless work among students, youths, seminarians, and disadvantaged people of different ethnicities and faiths. He is being mourned by them all.

Archbishop Moses Costa, son of Hiron Pundit (teacher), was born on November 17, 1950, at the village of Tumilia. He had several brothers and sisters, among whom three -- Sister Mary Catherine, S.M.R.A., Sister Mary Tara, S.M.R.A., and Sister Mary Bibha, S.M.R.A. -- became nuns.

He became a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross on February 5, 1981. Later, on July 20, 1996, he was named the bishop of the Diocese of Dinajpur. On April 6, 2011, he was appointed the Bishop of Chattogram Diocese. Pope Francis, in 2017, elevated the Diocese of Chattogram into an archdiocese and appointed him the first archbishop of Chattogram on February 2, 2017. In both the dioceses he served, he worked relentlessly for the spiritual upliftment of his Catholic folk.

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Early Bangali Immigrants Blended With Blacks and Puerto Ricans in the USA

Vivek Bald's ground-breaking book on early Bangali immigrants in the USA

Photo courtesy: www.mixedracestudies.org/

Bangali immigrants with their wives meet at the 1952 Pakistan League of America banquet in New York

 Photo courtesy: inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/

Bangali (also written as Bengalee or Bengali) immigrants, who mostly worked in British ships, jumped ships while in the USA in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and blended with Blacks and Puerto Ricans for survival. They, thereby, lost their Bangali identity – language, culture and even skin colour in their descendants – and connection with their motherland, present Bangladesh or West Bengal region of the then British India. 

A century later, Vivek Bald, of mixed race ancestry himself, enumerated this formerly unknown immigration saga in his book, Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, recently published by the Harvard University Press. 

Vivek Bald tells the CNN:  “This was a population who came to the United States at a time when this country had erected quite draconian race-based immigration laws.” He also said: “They came during that time but were able to build networks in order to access jobs all over the United States."

To learn more on these lost immigrants, please visit the following: 

• BengaliHarlem: Author documents a lost history of immigration in America

• Mixed RaceStudies

Bishop Moses Costa, CSC, of Bangladesh Visits Canada

Bishop Moses Costa, CSC, assisted by Father Victor Boiragi of Bangladesh, offering Mass at St. Dunstan's Catholic Church in Toronto

Bishop Costa speaking to the Mass attendees at St. Dunstan's, while Father Boiragi looks on

Photos (Toronto: July 28, 2012) © Jerome D'Costa

Bishop Moses Costa, CSC, of the Diocese of Chittagong, Bangladesh, visited Canada recently. Among his other engagements, were his meetings with Bangladeshi Catholics in Montreal, Toronto and Mississauga of Ontario.

In Toronto, he offered a Mass on Saturday, July 28, in Bengali language for about 60 Catholics at St. Dunstan’s Church in Toronto.  Next day, he went to Mississauga before leaving Canada.

Bishop Costa of the Diocese of Dinajpur was transferred to the Diocese of Chittagong in 2011, after Bishop Patrick D’Rozario, CSC, the incumbent bishop of the diocese, was nominated the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dhaka. Bishop Costa had served the Diocese of Dinajpur for 15  years.

Bangladeshis in Toronto to Hold 'Boishakhi Mela' on April 14 and 15

A poster on a fence on Danforth Avenue of Toronto announces the two-day programme of the Boishakhi Mela

Another poster on the window of the Ghoroa Restaurant on the Danforth Avenue displaying the Bengali New Year programme

A chalk-board inside the Ghoroa Restaurant announces the 1st of Boishakh (the first month of the Bengali year) rally to be held on April 15

All photos (Toronto: April 7, 2012) © Jerome D'Costa

Bangladeshis are to hold their sixth Boishakhi Mela (Bangla New Year Fair) on April 14 and 15 at Ted Reeve Hockey Stadium on Main and Gerrard Streets in Toronto. Each day, the fair will start at 11:00 a.m. and continue until 1:00 a.m. in early morning next day. 

The two-day fair will mark cultural shows (singing, dancing, play acting, poetry recitation, stand-up comedy), food and other stalls, and raffle draws on one LCD TV, a laptop computer and a DVD player. Food stalls, among other items, will sell typical Bengali food items like pitha, payesh, panta-ilish, shutki, jhaal-muri, and cotton candy). The second day will also see a rally.

Children will enjoy shows by clowns, face painting and mehendi painting on their hands.

The best stall and the best boishakhi dress will win prizes.

Several thousand Bangalis (Bengalees) and Canadians are expected  to attend this fair. Bangalis all over the world observe the Pohela Boishakh with much fanfare.

The Cross: Little Flora's Art Work

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Flora Gomes is holding her handiwork

Photos (Toronto: July 4, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

Little Flora Gomes is from Bangladesh. She studies at St. Theresa Shrine Catholic Elementary School, Toronto. Presently she has been enjoying her two-month summer vacation with her older sister Lira.

When she was in grade two this year, she made a beautiful cross with wooden clothesline clips as part of her Easter art work. This cross is now hanging in the family's living room (drawing room). Whoever sees her work is immediately drawn to it and asks the parents from where they purchased the cross! Her parents Shonjit Hubert and Geeta Gloria Gomes are proud of her work.

Flora Gomes