Bishop Emmanuel Rozario left Bangladesh for a Mission Appeal in the Diocese of Trenton the last week of July. The country’s prime minister then was a woman, Sheikh Hasina. Having served for a combined total of more than 20 years, she was the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh. When Bishop Rozario returned a month later to the Diocese of Barishal, Bangladeshis had a change of government officials. Hasina resigned after a hundred deaths from students’ uprisings and demonstrations. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus became the head of an interim government.
Bangladesh is a poor country. With 173 million people densely situated in a land often contested by India and Pakistan, it is the eighth-most-populous country in the world. The headline of The Business Standard, the country’s leading newspaper, on my first day there last April stated: “Extreme poverty to rise in Bangladesh, inflation to hit 9% by Fiscal Year 2024.”
Considering the trove of arable and fertile soil I saw while there, I wondered then what could lead them to such poverty. Certainly, it is beyond my capacity to judge them for their wherewithal in an economic or financial field, where I am not capable or competent.
This is what happened on the day that my host, Father David, Barishal Diocesan chancellor, picked me up and took me to his rectory. He rented a car for the entire week of my stay since he does not own one. Only the Bishop does.
About an hour through our four-hour ride to his parish, we were flagged down by four traffic enforcers. They told our driver that he was speeding, which in my own speeding vocabulary – he was not. Under the heat of the searing noonday sun and after pleading his case, our poor driver relented. He gave the enforcers close to $50 dollars so as not to have his license confiscated.
He was incredibly careful this time after the incident, minding the speedometer as we snaked through the rickshaws, buses, trucks, bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians. The incessant bleating and blowing of car horns were neither warning calls nor road rage typology. It was typical and normal for them to hear the cacophony of discordant sounds.
An hour later, this time on their two-lane “Expressway,” another flag down. It was another 30 minutes of negotiation, another baking and broiling in the humid heat. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at that time, as my Weather App showed (and some of my body fat had slowly melted away).
Our driver lost another $50 to the enforcers, and they confiscated his license this time. Not all these enforcers are corrupt, that is for sure. But, from what I saw on my first day, there needs to be a major overhaul of the core beliefs and morals.
Father David had planned to return to the capital city, Dhaka, two days later in order for me to meet the Maryknoll Sisters and the Missionaries of Charity. I asked him not to, since I think those same enforcers will again be on the road flagging down a compact, white Toyota as they calculate and pile up their spending money.
Christians are a minority in Bangladesh. They account for 0.30% (roughly 500,000 people) of the nation’s population. The Diocese of Barishal has 17 diocesan priests and five religious priests. They minister to eight parishes and 28 sub parishes. I met most of them, and there is hope for our faith. Most of them are young, and I saw their zeal and dedication to their ministry.
When Bishop Rozario preached at two of our parishes this past summer, I also saw his unwavering trust and confidence in the faith of his flock. Some of them have been physically attacked before, and some of them have even died in a church bombing a decade ago. But as we have all seen in our history, nothing can get between missionaries and their faith in Our Lord Jesus. Not even poverty, or police corruption, not even a drastic change of government or an endless cacophony of noise.
Father Alindogan is diocesan director of missions and pastor of St. Veronica Parish, Howell.
Father Alindogan helps children fill their water bottles during his visit to Bangladesh. Courtesy photo
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