(December 23, 2010) In North East India, the Guwahati archdiocese’s new cathedral
will attract people as it has incorporated local art and culture, Church people claim.
“We are invited to come and find solace here,” said Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil
of Guwahati after opening the Christ the Bearer of Good News Church at Dispur on December
19. The Salesian prelate said the church symbolized the “deeper reality” of God’s
presence. “It is the external expression of God’s presence among us,” he said and
added the Church is a source of strength for all “even those who have abandoned the
Church.” The archbishop said the cathedral chose the name to remind its people to
become bearers of the Good News. “Today when we find joy at the completion of this
great church we also know that God is glorified even when we pray in a little hut,”
he added. The church has used japi and horai that local people use to honour guests.
The church is centrally located in north-eastern India. Dispur parish was started
in 1997 by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins led by Father Peter Celestine, now
the bishop of Jammu Srinagar diocese. Currently, the Missionaries of Francis de sales
Priests manage the parish that has 165 Catholic families and about 500 parishioners.
The archdiocese organized a mission congress to prepare for cathedral opening with
the theme, “Let your light shine: Become the messenger and the message.” Guwahati
diocese was erected in 1992 carving it out from Shillong archdiocese and Tura and
Tezpur dioceses. It became an archdiocese in 1995.