Thanks to the support of our benefactors, ACN was able to sponsor the construction of a new chapel and presbytery that have recently been opened in India.

By ACN Staff

Ramnagar is the oldest mission station in the Diocese of Bettiah, Bihar state, northern India. Recently, thanks to your generous help, ACN donated €28,400 to help with the construction of a new chapel and parish house that have been formally consecrated and opened. It was an occasion of great joy. The bishop came in person, and priests, religious sisters and Catholic faithful from all over the surrounding area also came to join in the celebrations. The new chapel was consecrated with a solemn Holy Mass and a dedication to Our Lady. Afterwards, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the bishop opened the parish house as well and blessed the new building with holy water.

The old chapel and presbytery were already over a hundred years old and had been built with mud bricks. Rats and termites had eaten away the walls, leaving them unstable, and the roof was leaking and in danger of collapsing. It had become dangerous even to gather in the chapel for worship, and in any case, the growing numbers of the faithful could no longer fit inside it. As for the presbytery, it did not even have any sanitary facilities and was already far too small and cramped. In fact, the parish office was on the veranda!

But now, thanks to your help, there is accommodation not only for the priests but also a guest room, an office, bathroom and toilet facilities, with electricity and running water and a kitchen and storeroom. So now at last it will be possible to have another priest come and help in ministering to the faithful, for the parish will undoubtedly continue to grow and develop.

“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all of you who made this aid possible, and assure you of our sincerest prayers”, writes Bishop, Sebastian Goveas, together with Father Pascal Anand, the parish priest. “May God bless you for your generosity!”

We are only too happy to pass their thanks on to you all, together with our own sincere gratitude.