Dhaka’s Holy Rosary Church ready to welcome Pope
Francis
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| Bangladeshi Catholics at Mass at the Holy Rosary Church in Dhaka, ahead of the Pope's visit to the nation.- AFP |
Saturday, Dec. 2 is the last day of Pope Francis’ Nov.
27-Dec 2 apostolic visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He flies back to Rome
Saturday evening at the end of his Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Bangladesh trip.
On Saturday, the Pope has three appointments at the Holy
Rosary Church complex in the city’s Tejgaon district. In the
morning he will be visiting what is known and the “House of Mother
Teresa”, then visit the church where he will address priests, religious,
seminarians and novices after which he will visit the parish cemetery and the
old Church of the Holy Rosary.
House of Mother Teresa
The "House of Mother Teresa", inaugurated in 1976,
is the smallest among the homes in Dhaka run by the Missionaries of Charity
(MC) of St. Mother Teresa. It was chosen by the saintly nun as her
base while visiting the capital. The Mother Teresa House is part of the Holy
Rosary parish complex that also includes the old Portuguese Church
of the Holy Rosary. Currently, the “Home of Compassion” at the
Mother Teresa House offers treatment and help to thousands of orphans
and people with mental and physical disabilities.
The MC nuns also have a children’s “Shishu Bhavan”
home in Dhaka’s Islampur district. It was begun in the early 70s to cater
mostly to girl mothers, recognized by the government as
“biranganas” or war heroines – women who were raped and made pregnant by
Pakistani soldiers during Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971. Many
of the children born there have been adopted by families in Europe, North
America and Australia.
Pope Francis will not deliver any discourse at the House of
Mother Teresa but will meet and bless the children.
Clergy, religious
The Pope will then walk a short distance to the Holy Rosary
Church, which is also known as he Japamala Rani Church in Bengali by locals,
where he will address priests, religious, seminarians and novices.
After the encounter, the Pope visit the adjoining parish
cemetery, one of the two Christian cemeteries of the capital, where the
Pope will pray briefly for those buried there. He will then visit
the adjacent old Holy Rosary Church that Portuguese Augustinian missionaries
founded in 1677, and which is now used as a chapel for perpetual
adoration. Here too, Pope Francis will not deliver a discourse but will
meet and bless orphans taken care of by the nuns.
Tejgaon preparing for Pope
Vatican reporter, Fr. Dilip Ekka who visited the
Holy Rosary Church earlier this week, said the local community is preparing for
the Pope’s visit.
Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka
celebrated a thanksgiving Mass in the church on Nov. 24, expressing his
appreciation for the work to the different core committees for their
preparation, saying it is for the “glory of God.”
Fr. Kamal Corraya, the parish priest of the
Holy Rosary Church told Fr. Ekka the faithful have been preparing for the
success of the Pope visit offering special Masses and observing a day
of fast.
According to Mr. Francis Costa, a parishioner,
the Pope visiting Bangladesh is like the “king of peace” coming to the
people. Visibly moved, he said the the entire population of Tejgaon
area is filled with joy. The Pope visiting the tiny Catholic community of
the nation, according to Costa, is a blessing.
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