The diocese of Diphu lies in the state of Assam in the far Northeast of India. This is a region of great poverty, where a variety of different indigenous tribes traditionally live. Most of them in fact still adhere to their traditional tribal religions.
The number of Catholic faithful in the diocese is around 70,000, a minority of just a little over 5% of the total population. Most of the Catholic families have only embraced Christianity in recent decades, so that there is still a great need to deepen and strengthen their Catholic faith.
And so the diocese made plans to introduce more training courses – ongoing courses for priests, religious and laity, and spiritual exercises, retreat days and a range of different conferences, meetings and other events, all aimed at strengthening the life of the Church here. The only problem was that there was no place to hold all these gatherings or to accommodate the visiting participants. The diocese urgently needed a pastoral centre with the appropriate meeting rooms, as well as overnight accommodation for visitors. But this was not possible, given that the area is very poor and the financial demands, especially following the pandemic and the general economic crisis, have only grown greater. Which is why Bishop Paul Mattekatt turned to ACN for help.
As always, our benefactors responded generously, and so we were able to contribute something over 73,000 Euros. As a result, to the great joy of the diocese, the pastoral centre in Diphu has now been built and solemnly consecrated. And still greater was the joy of the priests, religious and laity who have already been able to benefit from the various different events on offer. So now they can also serve their own parishes better!
Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who have helped make this possible!