North of Calcutta

On the frontiers of the mission

In West Bengal, Salesians from the Saint John Bosco Province can be found in two special places. Here, as well as providing pastoral care for Catholics, they open up the way to evangelisation by telling the story of Jesus in an unusual way. Hindus form the largest group in West Bengal with seventy two point five percent of the population. A further twenty five percent are Muslim. Other faiths, such as Buddhism, Christianity and Animism, make up the remaining two point five percent.

Just sixty five kilometres north of Calcutta, in the Kalyani region, is the parish of Don Bosco. Here, many years ago, Salesian missionary Fr. Luigi Gobetti started a settlement for poor Christian families from various parts of the country. He bought a large piece of land and made it available in small plots. The core community in the parish is composed of almost three hundred and fifty family groups and is still growing. Two other branches of the Salesian Family are working alongside the Salesians: the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Sisters of Mary Immaculate.

Ordinary celebrations, activities to bring young people together and entertain them, a small evening school, and especially meeting the people, provide an opportunity for the sons of Don Bosco to plant seeds of hope and of the Word of God. A clear presence, sharing in everyday encounters, celebrations, and formation in catechetics and prayer.

The work of the Salesians, slow but sure, doesn’t stop with Catholics alone. While respecting diversity, they are also open to those who have not heard the story and the message of Jesus. Salesian Brother Sushanto carries out an apostolate which is both simple and effective. Step by step he wins the respect and friendship of the young people, and once he has obtained this, he meets their families, involving them in discussions and in discovering Jesus.

Travelling further north, a hundred kilometres from Calcutta, we come to Krishnagar in the Nadia district. Here the Salesian presence is very deeply rooted, both historically and pastorally.

Along one road, ‘Don Bosco Street’, there are several communities from the Salesian Family: the Disciples, the  Sisters of Mary Immaculate, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and also the Salesians. The diocese, with curial offices on the same road, has been led by Salesian bishops for the past eighty years. Great missionaries have worked here, such as the Servant of God, fr. Francesco Convertini.

The Salesians have been in Krishnagar from the late nineteen thirties and they have always been committed to the human and spiritual advancement of the young people and their families. Today the Salesian School is still providing human and Christian formation to help the young people of the area to deal with their lives.

In the diocese of Krishnagar, Catholics make up less than one percent of a population of more than eleven million. In this situation, fr. Luciano Colussi, who has always been involved in social communications, came up with an unusual form of presence and catechesis. This Salesian missionary, who passed away in October two thousand and ten, decided to build a temple, beside the cathedral in Krishnagar, which would present the life and ministry of Jesus in pictorial form: the Christo-Mandir.

The Christo-Mandir is not a church, but a place where any one at all, from any faith, can come and discover the story of Jesus. Coloured carvings and statues portray the main events of the Old and New Testaments in a very direct form. It’s a place where the events of history are brought together in the perspective of the history of salvation. No rites, no celebrations, but only the contemplation of how much God has done for humanity.

It’s a way of catechising which seems to echo what Don Bosco did with his boys, children of the people: using concerts, hymns and publications to reveal the greatness of God.