The Catholic Church of Bangladesh has 13 new priests. Their ordination took place on December 30 last in the Bonpara church in Natore, in the diocese of Rajshahi.
Fr. Mintu Gervas Rozario, one of the newly ordained, told AsiaNews: "I received the call of God, and now my dream has come true, thanks to the help of my parents and educators. I thank them all and ask you to pray for my priestly life. "
The priests were ordained by Msgr. Gervas Rozario, Bishop of Rajshahi, attended by 40 priests and about 500 faithful. Fr. Emmanuel Kanon Rozario, rector of the major seminary of the Holy Spirit (the only major country of the seminar), reports that "13 new consecrated will play an important role in our Catholic community."
The priest reveals that in recent years Bangladesh has seen an increase in male vocations, in contrast to Europe and the United States. "The seminaries are full of young people - he says with enthusiasm - and a growing number of young men approach religious life".
Many priests, he adds with satisfaction, "went abroad to do missionary work." Msgr. Rozario confirms the increase in vocations and reports that two "Chinese bishops have asked me to send Bangladesh missionaries to China ".
On the other hand, Fr. Kanon Rozario notes that the number of religious could decrease because of family crisis and the collapse of births in the future. "Today - he says - couples are no longer having many children. This is already evident in the novitiates and houses of formation for the sisters, which are almost empty. There are no longer enough girls in the colleges".
In this regard, during the homily Msgr. Rozario has invited Catholics to "encourage their children to pursue a religious life and save the Catholic Church".
Bangladesh is a country with a Muslim majority. Christians are a tiny minority, about 0.6% of a total of over 160 million inhabitants.
The largest community is Roman Catholic, with almost 600 thousand faithful, a cardinal, more than 1,000 sisters and about 500 priests.