Some Muslims Attack Boldipukur Catholic Rectory, Convent and Nuns in Boldipukur, Bangladesh

The map showing Catholic dioceses in Bangladesh as of 2011

Map Courtesy: The Catholic Directory of Bangladesh, 2011

 (Click on the map above to see an enlarged version)

More than 50 armed Muslims of the locality, on July 6, broke into the Boldipukur Catholic Church rectory and convent and looted some materials and beat and molested some PIME Sisters (nuns), reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA). 

Bishop Seabasstian Tudu, an aboriginal bishop of the Diocese of Dinajpur (located in the north-west of Bangladesh) overseeing 14 parishes including Boldipukur, told the Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic charity, "The attack was massive and lasted about an hour and a half. The attackers brutally beat the nuns... the convent was seriously devastated. Only when the police arrived did the attackers leave the mission."

The Sisters are now in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, for psychological and medical care.

"The attack is obviously a targeted and planned attempt at intimidation. Nuns and priests are being attacked because they stand up for the disadvantaged and minorities," the bishop said. "The most recent attack is clearly a targeted response to Catholics' commitment to the country's poorest people," he added.

The Asianews reports that the attack started at 2:00 a.m. and lasted for an hour and a half. The intruders tied the hands and legs of two night watchmen and gagged them before breaking down the door of the assistant pastor Father Anselmo Marandy who was asleep. They looted some items and then attacked the convent inside the church compound. 

The raiders were demanding the land documents that aboriginal parishoners deposit with reliable persons for safekeeping. Some non-Christian people with ill motive are always on the lookout  for ways to deprive aboriginals of their land and grab them. 

Nirmal Rozario, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association, based in Dhaka, demanded exemplary punishment for the culprits. 

So far, the police arrested 12 Muslims for this attack.

For further details, you may visit the following:

• Women Religious attacked in Bangladesh
• Convent attacked, nuns molested in Bangladesh, 12 Muslims arrested
• 12 Muslims arrested from group that attacked the church in Boldipukur

In the past, there were other attacks and threats on churches, convents and Christians in Bangladesh. For details, you may click on the following:

• Boldipukur: a 500-strong mob of Muslim extremists attack Catholic Church (Rangpur District, in March, 2010)
• Presssure on Catholic family to rob them of house and property (in Dhaka,in October, 2009)
• Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village (Dhaka District, in August, 2009)
• Bombing in a Church in Bangladesh Kills 10 (Baniarchor Church in Gopalganj District, in June, 2001)
• Mob Attack on Catholic Church and School and Two Protestant Churches in Dhaka (in April, 1998)
• Intolerant Islam on the Rise in Bangladesh: Two Churches in Bangladesh Attacked in 1985 (in Narayanganj) 

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.

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.