Barisal’s bishop designate says faithful’s wish fulfilled

Catholics in ​​Barisal, some 123 kilometers south of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, "waited for a long time to have their own diocese. Now the pope has fulfilled their wish, and I shall do everything to take care of them,” said Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader of Chittagong, whom Pope Francis on Dec. 29 appointed the first bishop of the new Diocese of Barisal.  Barisal was created out of the Diocese of Chittagong. "The distance between Barisal and Chittagong was a huge barrier to our pastoral work. Now this barrier has been removed, and I give thanks to Almighty God for it," the Holy Cross bishop told AsiaNews.  With the new diocese, Bangladesh now has seven dioceses, all suffragans of Dhaka Metropolitan Archdiocese.  Barisal will border to the east with the mother Diocese of Chittagong and to west with the Diocese of Khulna.  Barisal’s St Peter’s Church will be the cathedral of the new diocese and St Peter the Apostle its patron saint.  (Source: AsiaNews)