Inauguration ceremony of the newly erected Barisal Catholic Diocese and the installation of the first bishop of the diocese Most. Rev. Lawrence Subrato Howlader, csc is held with lot of festivity and enthusiasm in the Barisal city. This historical day was celebrated on 29th January 2016 in Udayan School Premises of St’ Peter’s Cathedral Church through different activities. Holy Eucharist (Main Prayer of Catholic Christian) was held at 10am and in the evening a reception took place in honor of the first bishop of Barisal, Lawrence Subrato Howlader, csc.
Present guests in the Holy mass are: Vatican ambassador and representative of The Holy Father, Pope Francis in Bangladesh, archbishop George Kochery; Archbishop of Dhaka Metropoliton Archdiocese Patrick D’Rozario, csc & Retired assistant Bishop Theotonius Gomes, csc; Bishop of Chittagong diocese Moses Costa, csc; Bishop of Khulna diocese James
Romen Boiragi; Bishop of Rajshahi diocese Jervas Rozario; Bishop of Dinajpur diocese Sebastian Tudo; Bishop of Sylhet diocese Bijoy D’Cruze, omi. Therefore many local & foreign priests, religious brothers & sisters and thousands of Christians participated in the Holy Mass. Barisal divisional commissioner Md. Gaus and Barisal city mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal were also present in the ceremony.
It is to be noted that there were 7 religious teritorry in Bangladesh which are called diocese. Every diocese has a religious leader who is called Bishop. The highest religious leader of the Catholic Christians at present is Pope Francis who takes the pastoral care of the Christians through the local Bishops. Among the 7 dioceses the land area of Chittagong diocese was vast. So, with a view to ensuring better pastoral care of the Christians in Barisal, Pope Francis established a new diocese from the the area of vast Chittagong diocese which is ‘The Barisal Catholic Diocese’ and Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader, csc has been appointed as the first bishop of this new diocese. Barisal diocese is created containing 11 districts of Bangladesh. 1,41,83,927 people live in this area among which 15,530 are Catholic Christians.
