Approximately 1,804 catechists serve remote, rural communities in the Muslim-majority country.

For nearly three decades, 60-year-old Sushilon Anton Hembrom served as a part-time catechist for a remote village community in northern Bangladesh, without pay. The Santal tribal Catholic worked hard on his farm to support his family of three children when he wasn’t strengthening his Catholic community’s faith in Majhdigha Shibpur village in Natore district.

Such catechists-hundreds like Hembrom who work entirely without pay and some 400 full-timers who work for a nominal fee-are “true missionaries,” Church leaders say, helping the Church sustain village communities where a priest is not readily available. Hembrom, himself a Santal, said he was baptized in 1996 “at a time when a priest was not available to come to the village every Sunday. I was asked to look after the church.”  That was 30 years ago. Since then, “I gather people for prayers and assist the priests whenever they visit.”

He subsequently received training in leading prayers, managing church activities and reading Santali religious materials, with guidance from priests and nuns in the northern Rajshahi Diocese.  Most Catholics in his village came from his Santal tribe, which traditionally followed the animist Sarna religion, and Hembrom said constant catechesis and prayer gatherings are important to sustaining their faith. “Many catechists receive very little financial support, making it difficult for them to provide for their families,” the bishop said. Yet, he added, they serve their communities with “unwavering commitment.” Bishop Gervas Rozario of Rajshahi said catechists are “true missionaries” because they work in remote areas where priests and nuns cannot maintain a regular presence.

Sathyadeepam Weekly