Missionary from Dhaka in Seoul, his heart turned towards China and North Korea

Fr. Shitol (pictured with Fr Franco Cagnasso, PIME, and three South Korean sisters), an Omi missionary of Bangladeshi origin, entered the seminary in 1994. After graduation, he spent the 2002-2003 period in Sri Lanka. He returned to his native country and studied for two years, at the Holy Spirit Major Seminary in Dhaka. In 2006 he went to South Korea for the first time to study the language and prepare for his mission there. Ten months later he returned to Bangladesh, to complete his theological studies. On 5 February he was ordained priest and will soon begin his mission.

Commenting on his first period spent in South Korea, the newly ordained priest states that he experienced "the universality of the Catholic Church, which grows through "missionary work ". "The Korean people - adds Fr Shitol – are very devoted, they practise their faith in Christ with strength and there is considerable number of vocations".   He also hopes that "more missionaries from Bangladesh may go to the South, to prepare for mission in North Korea and China" and the same goes for "South Korean missionaries who can come to Bangladesh."  

Fr. Shitol admits that "mission work in foreign lands is not easy," you have to learn a language, a culture and a different tradition, "the climate and food are different" too. "First of all – he remembers - I had to accept all this as a positive element, looking at this situation through the eyes of Jesus Christ." Thus, he concludes, “I learned to love the Korean people and to spread the message of the Good News”.

The first Mass celebrated by Fr Shitol was also attended three sisters of South Korean origin, from the contemplative order of Charles de Foucauld (Cem). Sister Rita has been in Bangladesh since October 2008 and immediately was impressed "by the poverty and suffering of the people" However, through fasting and prayer, she has found a way to put it all in the hands of Christ.  

Sister Teresa, by contrast, began her mission in May 1987. “I gift my work to Jesus - says the religious - and although Bangladesh is not my country, now I feel part of this people are in my heart. " The missionary explained that the community is composed of 10 nuns, including five Italians, three Koreans and two from Bangladesh.

Sister Nives arrived on 8 July 1991. Her first difficulty was learning the language, which is essential to work closely with people. "One day I saw a very sad child - she says - and I started talking to him. He could not go to school because he was very poor, and nobody wanted to accept him. " This is why the Korean nun started a class for poor children, which today has 40 children, but in all these years "it has allowed over 500 people to study."