Success Stories

Dinajpur is one of the poorest of the eight Catholic dioceses in Bangladesh. As they do everywhere in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, Catholics represent only a tiny minority of the population. Most of the faithful belong to ethnic minorities and are thus doubly disadvantaged: on account of their Christian faith and because of their ethnic background. They face discrimination and often actual violence in their daily lives. The Church is alone in caring for them and helping them to live ...

Bishop James Thoppil of the Diocese of Kohima in the state of Nagaland was concerned for the religious formation of laity, and identified a great need for the training of catechists, marriage preparation courses and intensified work with the women, children and young people. Until now, he had no pastoral or training center to use for this purpose. The Catholic faith first arrived in 1948 in the region with a community of religious Sisters. Initially they faced great opposition, and ...

Sonka is the poorest and remotest of the 35 villages of the parish of Nijpara in the Diocese of Dinajpur. While it is more than 11 miles from the main parish center, there are 20 Catholic families living there, devout believers who are actively involved in the life of the Church. Until recently, the village only had an old, mud chapel. It had already become too small for the growing number of the faithful, and it was then rendered unusable ...