Travels to Chittagong

Bishop Moses M. Costa, CSC of Chittagong along with Vatican ambassador Joseph Marino receive warm welcome from local Catholics.

On May 25, my younger brother who is a Holy Cross religious brother and I traveled to the southeastern port city of Chittagong. It was a two days tour full of new experiences.

It was my first time in Chittagong, often called the financial capital and the second most important city in the country after Dhaka and was a long-cherished desire to see the place that has the largest seaport and is the export-import hub in the territory.

We traveled by a night train with some priests and even a bishop on board. Traveling with them helped me recall time of my life I spent in the seminaries having religious formation. Most of the seminarians used to be afraid of priests for no particular reason. I admit I was among those “chicken-hearts” but now, three and a half years after leaving nine years religious formation life, I feel most of the priests are “friendly faces”! Times change, we change too.

We all were traveling to attend the installation of Holy Cross Bishop Moses M. Costa as new Chittagong diocese head. For me it was two-fold expedition – tourism and reporting the event for ucanews.com.

The post of the Holy See was vacant after Holy Cross Bishop Patrick D’Rozario was appointed the coadjutor Archbishop of Dhaka archdiocese last November. Holy Cross auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader had acted as Administrator since then. Now Bishop Costa, 61 becomes the head of the diocese after serving northwestern predominantly tribal Dinajpur diocese for 15 years.

The two-day program included welcoming the new bishop in the Cathedral parish on May 26 afternoon, the installation and reception on May 27 and was a time of great learning for me. Several times I heard from some Church leaders and laypeople that Chittagong is the most “people-oriented” diocese. Being there I realized what I heard was true.

The Church in Chittagong is active, lively and is on the way to become real “people of God.” The spontaneous participation in organizing the whole program was simply awesome. No one was deemed superior or dominant, neither the priests/religious nor the laypeople. They worked hand in hand and shared joys and pains together.

Throughout my short life I’ve attended many Church programs, but I admit it was the best organized program I’ve ever seen. Chittagong is the most diverse diocese with both Bengali and ethnic tribal Catholics. Every parish contributed in organizing the program and parish delegations from each were present. They didn’t worry much for lodging and food; they just simply wanted to be there to welcome their bishop. The Church in Chittagong is moving well towards new way of being the Church, the participatory and all inclusive Church.

Another beautiful and pleasing thing in Chittagong is a strong and mature relationship between the Church and civil authority. City mayor Majur-e-Alam, a Muslim, attended the reception ceremony on May 27 afternoon and gave a precise and nice speech welcoming the new bishop and all the guests present in Chittagong on behalf of the government.

It was amazing to hear some Catholic jargons such as “parish”, “diocese” from his mouth and I’m sure he is familiar with those words because of long and outstanding relationship with the local Church. I came to know he generously provided substantial support to organize the program with ease. What a beauty in living inter-faith dialogue!

Bishop Moses M. Costa is very lucky to enter a diocese already maturing as the “living Church”, thanks to previous Holy Cross bishops Joachim Rozario (1967-94) and Patrick D’Rozario (1995-2001). The strong foundation is his strength and he needs to thrive on the pillar of his predecessors. The new prelate will harvest good fruits from God’s vineyard simply continuing what already began.

**Published at UCAN Blogs on June 2, 2011, read  UCAN Blogs- Give Us This Day