Die Pfarre Pressbaum

The story of Kazipara Chapel

Kazipara Village Christian Community belongs to St. John Mary Vianney Catholic Church, Mundumala, of Rajshahi Catholic Diocese, Bangladesh. The inhabitants of Kazipara village belong to the Santal and Karmoker indigenous communities. The majority families of the villages (90%) are the Santals. They are united socially under their traditional social organization (Village Council). Average size of their family is 4.5. Most of them (not less than 85%) are agriculture manual day labourers who live under poverty line. Their monthly family income from day labouring is BDT less than BDT 5,000.00 (Monthly Euro 12.00 per person). The agriculture day labourers have absolutely to depend upon agriculture which is totally uncertain. It is uncertain as they don't get jobs regularly. This is why temporary migration for searching jobs is also a remarkable reality which is observed among them. Among these families there are some families (around 25%) who are totally landless, even they don't have own homestead. It is mentionable that they have no alternative income sources. Other families (around 15%) are sharecroppers and their monthly family income is around BDT 6,000.00-8,000.00 (Monthly Euro 19.00 per person).

However, the good news of God was preached to this community by PIME Missionaries (The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) from Italy and baptized them in 1982. That time 20 families have accepted the Christianity. That time the Christian community gathered in a family or in an open place for prayer and other religious celebration such as Christmas and Easter. Then they have built a small Chapel made of mud wall with CGI sheeted roof in 1985 with the financial supports of the Parish Priest (PIME). The land to build up the Chapel was donated by a new baptized man who had two wives. One wife had one son and one daughter. They all have been baptized. The other wife had 8 children. But she and not all children have accepted Christianity. Only two of them and their family have accepted the Christianity.

But now the number of Christian families and population has been increased. At present there are 85 Catholic families (Population is more than 380) are residing in Kazipara. The old present small Chapel made of mud wall with CGI sheeted roof which measurement of the inner side space is 375 sft (34.839m2 ) which is not enough space for the increasing Christian community. It means, the inner side space for seating in the Chapel is not fulfilling the present need of the village. So, the existing mud made Chapel has no enough space for 380 people. On the other hand, the present mud made Chapel has already been damaged and it is now risky to use also as there are some cracks already on walls. It is also mentionable that the village is 4 k.m far from the Parish Church. Moreover, the road communication of the village with the Parish is too bad (muddy road). So, the villagers of Kazipara village can't attend the Sunday Mass in the Parish Church. This is why the people of the village as well as the Church feel need to build a new Chapel made of brick works with CGI sheeted roof ensuring of enough inner space. A brief idea on the proposed project is stated below.

Due to extreme poor socio-economic realities mentioned above, the people of Kazipara have no capacity to re-build a good chapel for themselves which will meet their present need.

The villagers of Kazipara have submitted an appeal for having supports for construction of a Chapel for them. The members along with the Parish Priest of the Parish Council of Mundumala Catholic Church visited the village and discussed about their appeal and realized the need of a new Chapel there. The matter was also discussed several times in the Parish Council. But Mundumala Catholic Church has also no financial capacity to extend support to Kazipara for construction of a chapel there. Therefore, the Parish Priest discussed with the Bishop about the need of the people of Kazipara and requested him to support them. The Bishop was agreed to arrange fund for construction of a Chapel at Kazipara. After an assessment done by the Regional Director of Caritas Rajshahi Region, a project proposal was designed, and Bishop send the request to Missio-Austria. Missio-Austria has granted the appeal with the financial support of Pfarrre Pressbaum and Rekawinkel, Austria.

Facing the Problem

After getting the financial support from Missio-Austria, the construction was planned to start, but the people of Kazipara faced an unexpected critical problem. The land on which the present old muddy Chapel is situated, was donated to build the church was 10 Satak (1 Satak = 40.46860338724812 m2). The man donated the land only on verbal, having trust to the Parish Priest. There was only a written document, but it was not registered by Magistrate or court. The Chapel, however, was built up. In the course to time, the Parish Priest, the man and both of his wives are dead. Since, there is no registered documents, the children of non-Christian wife of the man have now occupied 6 Satak of 10 Satak of the land by force. They demanded that it is their heritance land from their mother which was not properly distributed by their father. Therefore, the construction work of the proposed Chapel has been stopped. The people of Kazipara discussed with the children several times to be compromised. All discussion became in vain; they do not agree. Then the people of Kazipara tried to buy another land to build the chapel. It was also unsuccess, because the children are always and everywhere creating problems so that Christians cannot build a Church in the village. They have the tension that if the new Church is built in the village again then, the whole villagers will accept the Christianity and lost their power and influence in the village. The villagers decided to make a case file against them in the court. But it becomes more uncertain to build the chapel. Because it is long process. People do not know when to get the positive answer from the court.

At the end, the only grandson of the Christian wife of the man who has lost his father two years ago and his mother in March of this year 2023 has donated a piece of land of his part close to the present chapel. He says, "since my grandfather has donated the land for the Church but my uncles have occupied it, I will donate a piece of land from my part which I have inherited from my parent. I want a new and good church in our village." The donated land is a low land. The villagers started to fill up the low land with mud. But his cousin (the children of his father's sister) demanded their inheritance of their grandparent. Therefore, the work has been again stopped. However, the grandson has completed all the legal matter of the land and handover the paper of the land to the Parish Priest. The villagers, of-course, have helped him to do the legal matter. Also, it must be mentioned that the Parish Priest, Fr. William Murmu, the development officer from the Diocese and Fr. Biswanath Faustino Marandy, the formal assistant Priest of Pfarre Pressbaum and Rekawinkel, Austria, have worked heard directly and motivated and always encourage the people of Kazipara and still working as mediator to build the chapel in Kazipara.

Present Situation

However, after completing all the require works of registration from court, the construction work was started. But now the weather becomes enemy. There is heavy raining now every day. The land where the construction of the chapel is started is also low land and there gathers a lot of water. The villagers many times tried to irrigate the water with machine to continue the construction work of the chapel, but all their endeavors become unsuccess, because there is raining every day. That is why the construction work is remain stop again.

Now when the raining will be stopped then the construction work will be started again. But now there raises again a problem. Since the land on which the construction work is started, is a low land, there should be filled up with mud which will cost more extra money. The pries of the construction materials become high. On the hand, to do the necessary work to legally register the land, a lot of money is already spent. To complete the whole construction work, there is lacking more 3 Lakh BDT (3000.00 Euro). The people of Kazipara are looking for this further excess expense.

Fr. Bernard Tudu
Parish Priest St. John Mary Vianney
Mundumala Rajshahi Catholic Diocese
Bangladesh