When a family living in the Dumka diocese in India became Catholic,
their neighbours did not allow them to draw water from the village well
because they were deemed to have betrayed their ancestry.
But the villagers, who believed in good and evil spirits, saw the family peacefully going to the neighbouring village for water.
They realised there must be something “valuable and beautiful” in the family’s new-found faith, Jesuit priest Fr John Scicluna recounted.
The tremendous growth of the Santal mission, which has developed from nothing, is a miracle of grace.
The Maltese Jesuits have been working since 1925 to spread their faith among the Santals, the largest aboriginal tribe in India.
As the new diocese grew, by 1998 Dumka was divided into three. Before the Maltese Jesuit fathers and brothers arrived, there were a few hundred Catholics that now number 350,000 in three dioceses.
Fr Scicluna recounted how the Santal mission started when the Belgian Jesuits asked for help because they could not cope with the workload. The Jesuit province of Sicily, of which the Maltese formed part, wanted to be assigned a foreign mission.
Since 1925, 73 Maltese Jesuits have worked in India. Today there are more than 80 parishes, a university college, 20 colleges, 70 primary schools, 165 village schools, 70 hostels, 68 adult learning centres, eight orphanages, five hospitals, 43 health centres and pharmacies and two old people’s homes.
But the villagers, who believed in good and evil spirits, saw the family peacefully going to the neighbouring village for water.
They realised there must be something “valuable and beautiful” in the family’s new-found faith, Jesuit priest Fr John Scicluna recounted.
The tremendous growth of the Santal mission, which has developed from nothing, is a miracle of grace.
The Maltese Jesuits have been working since 1925 to spread their faith among the Santals, the largest aboriginal tribe in India.
As the new diocese grew, by 1998 Dumka was divided into three. Before the Maltese Jesuit fathers and brothers arrived, there were a few hundred Catholics that now number 350,000 in three dioceses.
Fr Scicluna recounted how the Santal mission started when the Belgian Jesuits asked for help because they could not cope with the workload. The Jesuit province of Sicily, of which the Maltese formed part, wanted to be assigned a foreign mission.
Since 1925, 73 Maltese Jesuits have worked in India. Today there are more than 80 parishes, a university college, 20 colleges, 70 primary schools, 165 village schools, 70 hostels, 68 adult learning centres, eight orphanages, five hospitals, 43 health centres and pharmacies and two old people’s homes.
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