I have been a catechist among the Santal for almost 50 years

The story of Patrash Soren, a layman from the Diocese of Dinajpur, who at 72 years of age continues to go from town to town to preach the Gospel and prepare people to receive baptism. “Among tribal members there is still a lot of scope to touch the hearts of non-Christians. They tell us that they love our way of life and the teachings of Christ.”

Dinajpur () – Catechists are a hidden and at the same time essential face of the proclamation of the Gospel in Asia. This is attested, for example, by the story of Patrash Soren, who has been working as a catechist in Bangladesh for 47 years. Born in India 72 years ago to a Baptist family, he moved to Bangladesh when he was just two years old. Later, he and his parents became Catholic. He recalls: “I started working as a catechist in 1975, with a monthly salary of 900 takas (9 euros, ed.). I brought God’s message to thousands of people and many welcomed it. Preaching the Gospel has always been a great pleasure for me.” my”.

A member of the Santal tribe and father of four daughters and two sons, Soren first worked as a teacher at Novara Primary School in Suihari, which is part of the Diocese of Dinajpur in northern Bangladesh. He left this job and chose the life of a catechist, to preach the faith directly to other people. “Generally, when we receive an invitation, we go to any town to announce God’s message,” he says. “We teach them catechism, hymns, the Bible for at least three years, we invite them to participate in church activities. We currently follow the catechumens in 44 villages in the Suihari parish, where the people, once prepared, will receive baptism.”

The diocese of Dinajpur encompasses 18 parishes and each of these communities has its own villages with its catechumens. It was the PIME missionaries who began to preach the Gospel in this region of northern Bangladesh. Even today, some of their priests are present along with the Missionaries of the Immaculate, but the local catechists are the ones who do most of the preaching.

“In this area there are great possibilities to touch the hearts of non-Christians who want to receive baptism. I asked some of them: why do you want to join us? They replied that they love our way of life, our culture and the teachings of Christ explained Soren, who spends most of his time preaching among the tribal community.

“We never tell anyone, ‘If you receive Christ, you will get some favor,'” he adds. “But tribal people keep coming to us and asking to be baptized. If we see that the desire is sincere and they attend prayer and Sunday mass regularly, after completing at least three years of teaching and preaching, we baptize them.” with the help of the bishop and the local priests”.

Soren reports that this year, more than 100 tribal adults were baptized thanks to the efforts and preaching of catechists: “We have 32 sister catechists, 20 full-time paid catechists, and more than 50 prayer leaders, who are the main players in this work to reach the hearts of new believers. Our most beautiful result is that, seeing the life of new believers, other non-Christians also want to receive Christ”.

Soren retired five years ago, but continues to serve. In addition to preaching, he teaches new catechists: “I have observed that young people today are not very interested in being catechists. But the Catholic Church in this country needs these figures very much. Priests or bishops cannot do everything, but catechists we can live with the people, in the village of the catechumens, and be with them as witnesses”.

In a country where 90% of the population is Muslim, the elderly catechist says that, in his work as a preacher, he has never had to face threats from Islamic radicals. “Instead of threats, I have enlisted the support of my Muslim brothers, who have watched us transform the lives of tribal people. They also saw that upon receiving Christianity, people abandoned bad habits, such as alcohol, or the worship of natural deities.”

Soren remembers with particular emotion the years 1976 and 1977, when many people from the Hindu tradition received baptism. “Now that I’m on the last stretch,” he explains, “I think I’ve had a wonderful life as a missionary, preaching the message. It was my calling: God called me to do this. While working for him, God also gave me abundant blessings, like the ones I still see every day in my children’s lives.