A tea garden parish in the Dooars area of Jalpaiguri dis-trict of North Bengal inaugu-rated 100 years celebration of founding of Catholic community at Champaguri, near Naya Sy-lee Tea Garden near Nagrakata on 8th January 2023.
Bishop Clement Tirkey of Jalpaiguri presided over the solemn centenary inaugural Eucharistic with 20 priests, 40 religious Brothers and Sisters; and some 1,000 faithful.
The parish has some 1,020 families with about 4,000 Catholics spread out in 17 sub stations.
As the old parish church was in dilapidated condition and the new church construction was incomplete, the celebra-tions were held in the open.
While congratulating the faith of Christians of the parish, Bishop lamented the fact that “in 100 years, the parish could offer only two priests, one for diocese and another for Jesuit society.”
Parish Priest Fr Samir Tir-key says, “Spiritual preparation for all age group, catechism classes at grass root level, trai-ning for catechists, and on going faith formation through Small Christian Community programs at different tea gardens to be held regularly are being pla-nned.”
Centenary celebrations will conclude in October 2023.
The Pontifical Milan Fa-thers (PIME) started mission at Nya Sylee Tea Garden around 1911 and moved to Champaguri in 1923, to the same bungalow offered by the then Tea Garden Manager.