Lakhanda: Catholics from a remote community celebrate bishop's first visit

Singers and a flock of boats received Bishop Emmanuel Kanon Rozario in the village of Lakhanda, Mandaripur region. On his first pastoral visit, the prelate fostered an atmosphere of reconciliation and promised to take action to renovate the village church and fix the road.

Madaripur (AsiaNews) - “Our faithful were very inspired by Bishop Emmanuel Kanon Rozario's sermon. He told us to love each other, and then we can be better Catholics,” catechist Provat Gain in the village of Lakhanda told AsiaNews. Msgr Emmanuel Kanon Rozario, bishop of the diocese of Barishal, made his pastoral visit on 21 October to the village of Lakhanda which is part of the diocese he has led since June last year.

Lakhanda, is a remote village located in the middle of a large swamp where more than 300 Catholics live. Here the first conversions date back to about 100 years ago, from the Hindu faith and recently a young man became a member of the congregation of the Holy Cross. Most of the population lives from fishing and agriculture. The Catholics of this village receive mass once every two months and the catechist Provat Gain leads the Sunday prayers when the priest cannot reach Lakhanda: "After becoming bishop, it is the first visit to our village of Lakhandra and we gave him sincerely welcome and a group of faithful went to pick him up by boat".

65-year-old Susuma Gain explains that “Bishop Emmanuel Kanon Rozario's message transformed us. There were tensions between some members of our community, and after the pastoral visit of Bishop Emmanuel Kanon Rozario, we have changed. By forgiving, we became friends, now the people of our village live in unity and peace." The faithful of Lakhanda have asked their bishop for some things, such as the repair of the church building and the road that connects it to the rest of the village.

“As a bishop - said Mons. Rozario - my responsibility is to see and meet the faithful to understand what their situation is. I have visited many parishes and small towns before, but visiting Lakhanda village was different for me. It was exciting to be received by the women of the community who welcomed me on the boat with songs. Due to the difficult to reach area this village is far from many government structures and the population is not very educated and there is a lot of poverty. They asked me to repair their church building and the road, I told them that together we will do something."

• pastoral visit
• Bangladesh
• village
• swamp