A nun with catechists and tribal Catholics walk along poles attached to a cliff face to avoid getting their feet wet as they make their way to a remote village in Bandarban district of southeastern Bangladesh in this file image. (Photo: Chittagong Archdiocese)
By UCA News reporter
Jun 30 2023
Catechist, Ananda Tripura, often journeys on foot along poor roads and crosses rivers by boat to offer spiritual and pastoral care to tribal Catholic families in remote villages in southeastern Bangladesh’s Bandarban district.
“Each time I leave home for a week, the first thing I think about is whether my family will have enough to eat and be safe during my absence,” said Ananda, 53, a father of six.
An ethnic Tripura Catholic, Ananda has been a catechist for more than three decades, working under the King of Peace Catholic Church in Thanchi, in Bandarban which is covered by Chittagong archdiocese.
Ananda is one of some 300 catechists, who supplement the pastoral work of parish priests in eight Bangladeshi dioceses, despite their personal challenges of poverty and meager income.
The task is particularly tough for Ananda as his hilly region lacks good roads and transportation.
“The pain of the long walk is unspeakable. During my suffering, I think about the suffering of Jesus on the cross,” he told UCA News.
He visits two or three villages in a single trip, at least twice a month, to assist Catholics unable to reach a church for Sunday Mass or religious festivals.
Often it takes a whole day to move from one village to another.
Ananda started as a teacher in a Church-run school, then became a prayer leader, and later took up the catechist ministry in 1991.
When he started the ministry, his monthly pay was 700 taka (US$6). Now, he gets about 8,000 taka (US$74).
The pay is meager as Ananda estimates his monthly expenses are about 20,000 taka, forcing him to work extra to make up the deficit.
“When I have time, I work as a day laborer. I plant crops on the slopes of hills on a plantation. When my children are at home for vacation, they join me as day laborers,” he told UCA News.
Five of his children are at boarding schools and one is a student in a diocesan seminary.
“I am happy at least that I am spreading the word of God and one of my sons has chosen the same path,” he said.
Bandarban is part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), a hilly-forested region covering three districts in southeastern Bangladesh bordered by India and Myanmar.
The majority of Catholics in Chittagong, about 24,000 out of a total of 33,800, hail from ethnic tribal groups. They live in 243 villages in the Bandarban, Khagracchari, and Rangamati districts of the CHT, according to data from the archdiocese.
Catholics in the hills are covered by seven parishes and 12 priests. Catechists play a vital role by reaching the faithful spread across vast areas. The seven parishes have a total of 30 catechists.
Christians make up less than half a percent of more than 165 million people in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, according to the 2022 national census.
It has some 600,000 Christians, the majority of them Catholics spread over eight dioceses. There are a total of 298 catechists in the country, according to Church sources.
The CHT, Bangladesh’s only mountainous region, has been home to more than a dozen Buddhist-majority ethnic tribal groups for centuries.
Christian missionaries evangelized among tribal people more than a century ago, when Bangladesh was part of India.
Today, some tribes like the Tripura, Marma, and Bawm are mostly Christian.
Since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, the region has experienced an influx of Bengali Muslims under a state-sponsored migration scheme.
The influx triggered sectarian tensions and violence, leading to an armed insurgency by a tribal militia. More than two decades of a bloody bush war between the militants and the military ended in 1997 when the CHT Peace Accord was signed.
A group of tribals opposed the treaty and continued the battle for greater autonomy, triggering a new wave of deadly violence and turf war between armed rival groups.
The armed groups have split in recent years and it intensified rivalry. Dozens have been killed and injured in the past few years. Due to the conflict, the CHT remains a heavily militarized zone.
Manik Wilver D’Costa, pastoral coordinator of the Chittagong archdiocese said the Church recognizes the great services catechists render despite the many challenges they face.
“It is not possible for 12 priests to visit so many villages and do pastoral work. There are remote villages where a priest cannot visit even once a year. The catechists and prayer leaders reach the villages with the message of Christ,” D’Costa told UCA News.
He admitted the salary catechists receive is low when compared to the hard work they put in. The church is unable to pay them more due to a funding shortage, he said.
“We know it is difficult for them to live on, but we do not have enough money to increase their salary. However, in addition to doing the work of a catechist, they can engage in daily labor or farming in their spare time,” Costa added.
The archdiocese conducts regular training programs for catechists to encourage them to continue their mission for the Church, he said.
Despite the hard work and low pay, Catholics still want to work as a catechist in the hills.
Gorden Tripura, 27, became a catechist this year for a monthly salary of 5,500 taka. He has worked as a prayer leader for seven years.
“Money is necessary for survival but I think spiritual satisfaction is also needed. I get peace of mind by preaching the word of God and my day goes by with God’s blessing,” Gorden, a father of a six-year-old told UCA News.
He says catechists like him are often scared by dangerous factional conflicts between armed groups and murders.
In recent years, the region has seen the emergence of a new rebel group, the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF). It reportedly draws members from tribal Christian communities.
The KNF was accused of killing tribal Christians and two soldiers last year.
“People are often killed here due to conflicts between different groups, we are often afraid when it comes to offering pastoral visits to villages. But trusting in God we move forward and so far we have avoided harm thanks to God’s blessings,” Gorden said.
Ananda Tripura said he is not afraid of the dangers and is ready to sacrifice his life if necessary.
“Jesus himself gave his life for us. If I follow his life, the pain of this road, the pain of walking, and the lack of money is nothing to me. I am even ready to lay down my life for Christ,” he said. – UCA News
