In West Bengal, missionaries ordered to leave — two hundred faithful rise around their priest

In West Bengal, in eastern India, a Catholic community is enduring a campaign of intimidation. On 31 July, Hindu-nationalist militants forced their way into a Claretian mission in the village of Nazat, accusing the missionaries of converting the tribal peoples and of building their church with foreign money; they gave them a week to quit the premises under threat of forced closure, and returned the next day to repeat the threat. On 3 August the same group appeared at a neighbouring parish; forewarned, the priest would not receive them alone: nearly two hundred faithful — among them Christians of other confessions — gathered around him, and the local authorities ordered the intruders not to disturb the peace. These events continue a months-long series of attacks against the Christians and churches of the state.

The Church did not invent her mission: she received it. « Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. » To preach the Gospel to every man is no theft of souls, but their deliverance. And the Lord had warned His own that the world's hatred would be a sign, not a surprise: « If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you. »

To threaten a priest into silence, to order missionaries to renounce their work, is to strike Christ in His envoys. But here is the opposite of the world: where they thought to isolate a shepherd, two hundred faithful rose to surround him. It is the Church herself, the flock drawn close about her shepherd, that answers the threat not with violence but with presence. The faith that costs is the only faith that holds; and those who suffer for it already have the promise: « Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. »

Sources. Gospel of St Matthew 28:19-20; Gospel of St John 15:18; Gospel of St Matthew 5:10.