Pope Francis Visits Mother Teresa's Home, Meets Priests and Religious, Visits Historic Church and Cemetery, and Talks to Youths Before Departure from Dhaka

Pope Francis' Third and Final Day in Bangladesh

Pope Francis visits historic Portuguese-built 17th century-church and cemetery at Tejgaon, Dhaka (Dec. 2, 2017)

Photo courtesy: Reuters

Pope Francis today (December 2) made a private visit to the Mother Teresa's Home, run by her Missionaries of Charity Sisters at Tejgaon and met and spoke with the Sisters and the orphans, and old and sick people who receive their care. He then met a few hundred priests, Brothers, Sisters, consecrated men and women, seminarians and novices at the nearby Holy Rosary Church. He also visited the adjacent Portuguese-built historic old church and cemetery. Finally, he went to Notre Dame College in Motijheel area of Dhaka and talked with the youth belonging to different religions before leaving for the Dhaka International Airport from where he flew to Rome in a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane. It is noteworthy that he came to Bangladesh on November 30 morning from Myanmar on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane, too.  

For more on Pope's third and final day in Bangladesh, please click on the following: 

• Pope Francis visited a home founded by Mother Teresa for orphans and met with priests and Religious at Tejgaon (Dec. 2, 2017) [Video]
• Pope Francis gets laughs in Bangladesh after walking diplomatic tightrope (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Pope to Religious, not to gossip, embrace joy (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Meeting of Pope Francis with Priests and Religious of Bangladesh [video] (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Gossip is a kind of terrorism, says Pope Francis (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Pope: the eyes of religious who serve with joy are'indescribable' (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Meeting of Pope Francis with Priests and Religious of Bangladesh (Dec. 2, 2017) [Video]
• Pope meets with Priests and Religious in Bangladesh [Full Text] (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Full text of Pope Francis' Improvised Comments to Priests, Religious in Dhaka (Dec 2, 2017)
• Pope tells young people of Bangladesh to 'seek God's wisdom'(Dec. 2, 2017)
• Pope Francis [Meets With the Youth] at Notre Dame College, Dhaka (Dec. 2, 2017) [Video]
• Pope concludes apostolic visit to Myanmar, Bangladesh (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Pope Francis leaves Dhaka after historic three-day tour (Dec. 2, 2017)
• Full text of Pope Francis' in-flight press conference from Bangladesh (Dec. 2, 2017)

(Updated on Dec. 4, 2017)

(To go to Pope Francis's First Day in Bangladesh, click here)

Pope Francis' Visit to Bangladesh: Salt+Light TV Interview of Jerome D'Costa

(L-R): Deacon Pedro of the Salt+Light TV, interviewing Jerome D'Costa in view of coming visit of Pope Francis to Bangladesh on November 30 - December 2, 2017

Image courtesy: www.saltandlighttv.org/

On the Weekly Edition of Perspectives, Deacon Pedro, English-language producer, speaks with Jerome D'Costa, a Bangladeshi-Canadian communicator, blogger, and writer, who used to work with Caritas Bangladesh (1973 - 1975), the Pratibeshi -- a Bengali-language national Catholic weekly of the Catholic Bishops of Bangladesh (1977 - 1983), and World Vision of Bangladesh (1984 - 1997). 

This interview was first telecast on Friday, November 24, evening and it will be re-telecast on Sunday, November 26, evening. 

To view this Salt+light TV programme online, you may click on the following:

• Perspectives Weekly: How Does a Papal Visit Change a Host Country?

Father Silvano Garello, SX, Is At Eternal Rest

Italian Xaverian missionary Father Silvano Garello, SX

Photo courtesy: Father Silvano Garello, SX

Father Silvano Garello, SX, a Xaverian missionary from Italy, working in Bangladesh for 47 years, died suddenly in the early hours of January 18 this year in the Xaverian House in Dhaka. He was 78. 

He was known as an avid promoter of Catholic literature in Bengali. He published more than 200 books and booklets of different genre on behalf of the National Social Catechetical Training Centre (NSCTC) of Jessore. 

He made a concerted effort in producing Catholic books in Bengali and making them available to as many people as possible. His intention was to let the Good News spread and make Catholics knowledgeable on Church teachings on the faith and morality.  

He himself did a few translations but had a group of translators to do the rest. He helped in ornamentation, design, and publication of the 2nd Vatican Council documents and the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Bengali. The Bengali translation of these two books were done by others. He wrote more than a dozen books on the Catholic Church situation and activities in Italian language for readers in Italy and wrote numerous articles for Italian newspapers and magazines.

Born in Valdagno, near Vicenza in northern Italy, on December 31, 1938, Father Garello was ordained a priest on October 25, 1964. He came as a missionary to the then East Pakistan, later called Bangladesh, in late 1970. 

Since 2002, he fully devoted himself in producing Catholic books and booklets in Bengali. He also edited Mongolbarta (the Good News), a bimonthly journal for catechists and teachers, from 1986 to 1996, on behalf of the NSCTC. 

The contribution of Father Silvano Garello, SX, to the Bengali Catholic literature will be remembered in Bangladesh for a long time to come.

To  learn more on him and his work,  please click on the following: 

• Father Silvano Garello, S.X.: A Relentless Advocate and Producer of Christian Literature in Bangladesh -- 1
• Father Silvano Garello, S.X.: A Relentless Advocate and Producer of Christian Literature in Bangladesh -- 2

 

 

Sunil Gomes, A Catholic Grocer, Killed in His Store in Bonpara, Bangladesh

Sunil Gomes, a village grocer, in his store at Bonpara Bazar of  Natore District

Photo courtesy: The Daily Star (Dhaka)

Sunil Gomes, 71, a Roman Catholic village grocer, was hacked to death recently in broad daylight in his shop at Bonpara Bazar of Natore District, north-west of Bangladesh. The grocery store was near the local Catholic church of Bonpara in the Diocese of Rajshahi. According to news reports, the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for this murder. 

Sunil's younger brother, Father Proshanto Gomes, working in the Diocese of Dinajpur, expressed his surprise and anguish at this brutal killing. He said that his brother was a simple villager with no enemies. 
 
This hacking death resembles the earlier IS-claimed killings in different parts of Bangladesh.


Hours earlier, Islamic militants shot the wife of the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Chittagong where he was zealously fighting Islamic terrorism. 

For more, please read the following:

• Christian trader killed in Natore (June 6, 2016)
• Islamic murders in Bangladesh: Catholic slaughtered, policeman's wife killed in front of child (June 6, 2016)
• Catholic hacked to death in Bangladesh (June 6, 2016)
• Who was Sunil Gomes? Christian Rrocer Hacked To Death In Northwest Bangladesh (June 5, 2016)
• ISIS kills Christian grocer in Bangladesh (June 6, 2016)
• Christian murdered in latest Bangladesh attack (June 5, 2016)

High Court Verdict: Islam As State Religion in Bangladesh Will Stay

Bangladesh Supreme Court building, where the High Court is housed, in Dhaka

Photo courtesy: AFP

Bangladesh High Court on March 28, 2016, rejected a writ petition that was submitted for removing Islam as the state religion in the 90%-Muslim-majority country. It means that Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh will continue.

A 15-member secularist activist group – having lawyers, university professors, writers and journalists – had filed the petition in 1988 challenging the status of Islam as the state religion in the country, which in December of 1971 had emerged as an independent but secular country from Islam-oriented Pakistan. They argued that the state religion conflicted with the Bangladesh’s secular character and discriminated against religious minorities. 

Only in June, 2011 did the court take up the case when the petitioners filled a supplementary plea challenging the status. The court then asked the government why the special status of Islam should not be scrapped. But the decision was further adjourned and the verdict was given on March 28 this year. In the same year of 2011, Sheikh Hasina’s government amended the country’s constitution and added “secularism” in it but retained Islam as the state religion. 

It is to be noted that military ruler President Ziaur Rahman came to power in the mid-1970s. To appease Muslim countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and some others, he allowed important leaders of the banned Jamaat-i-Islam party  to return to the country from Pakistan and participate in politics. In 1977, with an amendment, he erased secularism from the country’s constitution. Another military ruler and President, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, made Islam as the state religion bringing a constitutional amendment.

In 1988, when the Ershad government was preparing to make Islam as the state religion, religious minorities, including Christians, were apprehensive of the outcomes and repercussions on them because of their second-class status after enjoying equal status with the Muslims since the 1971 independence. 

At the latest verdict of March 28, the religious minorities feel let down in the face of increasing deadly attacks on them (Protestant pastor Rev. Luke Sarker in Pabna District, Italian Catholic priestFather Piero Parolari in Dinajpur Town, and Hindu priest Jogeswar Roy in Panchagarh District) in the recent past. 

‘Secularism’ (which means religious freedom for all religions and no state interference in any one) and ‘Islam as the state religion’ (which means the direct intervention of the state regarding Islam) are two opposites that dilute the consistency in the Constitution of Bangladesh.

To learn more on the writ-petition and background information on the state religion, please read the following:

• Writ challenging Islam as state religion rejected (The Daily Star, Dhaka: March 28, 2016)
• Bangladesh court upholds Islam as religion of the state (aljazeera.com: March 28, 2016) 
• In 2 minutes, Dhaka court rejects 1988 petition to drop Islam as state religion (atimes.com: March 28, 2016)
• Keeping Islam as State Religion in Bangladesh Triggers Mixed Reactions (voanews.com: March 28, 2016)
• Bangladesh court rejects scrapping Islam as state religion (ucanews.com: March 29, 2016)

 (To be updated)

Jerome D'Costa Documents Work As An Archive

A screen grab of the Jerome D'Costa Documents

Jerome D’Costa Documents are an archive of published articles, write-ups, and books of Jerome D’Costa, the blogger of this blog – Bangladesh Canada and Beyond – as well as some selected writings of other Christian and non-Christian writers. 

These Bengali and English language documents, mainly aimed at and are of interest to Bengali-speaking Catholic and Protestant Christians of Bangladesh, West Bengal of India, the Middle East, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and USA, will also be of interest to some Bengali-speaking non-Christians. These will also be useful for one's reading, reference, and research.

The digital archiving of these documents is an ongoing one. This is the first of its kind for these particular readers. 

From time to time, you may read these items at: 

• Jerome D'Costa Documents