Selfless catechists lead Church s pastoral mission in Bangladesh
Volunteers spread the Catholic faith in remote areas to be rewarded by more than mere money
Shilpi Das’ life has been divided into two segments for more than 10 years now.
The 33-year-old Catholic mother of two from a village under Queen of Fatima Church in Bangladesh s Thakurgaon district looks after her family with her husband. She is also a catechist who travels to remote villages near the Indian border.
Dinajpur Diocese has about 100 full-time and volunteer catechists. Shilpi became one of them against the will of her farmer husband. She gets only travel costs as an honorary monthly payment for a host of services she renders as a volunteer catechist.
India under attack over killings on Bangladesh border
Rights group says India has failed to deliver justice for extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment of residents
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India has been accused of turning its border with Bangladesh into South Asia’s killing fields. (Photo: YouTube)
A Catholic Church official has joined a global rights watchdog to condemn India s failure to deliver justice for scores of brutal killings by its forces along its border with Bangladesh.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has made a fresh call for the investigation of new allegations of law violations against the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
Bangladesh clamps down on provocative Islamic sermons
Church welcomes move to stem inflammatory and indecent speeches by militant preachers
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Crowds attend an Islamic gathering near Dhaka in this 2015 photo. A senior police official said on Jan. 19 that popular Islamic gatherings will be censored to curb provocative sermons. (Photo: UCA News)
Minority leaders including a Catholic Church official have welcomed a decision by Bangladeshi police to censor popular Islamic gatherings in order to stop radical clerics from delivering inflammatory and indecent speeches.
A senior police official said on Jan. 19 that they will keep an eye on
waz mahfils (Islamic gatherings) to identify clerics and take action over radical, provocative and hate speech in sermons.