Bangladeshi bishops insist on theology for lay people, priests

August 02, 2013 - By studying and teaching theology, the clergy and lay people can help make the Catholic Church of Bangladesh more active. This was the aim of a national seminar organized by the country’s bishops and the Major Seminary that ended on July 31, focussing on how to improve the teaching of Catholic doctrine. The meeting was attended by 62 intellectuals, six bishops and 30 priests. Nirmol Rozario, secretary general of Bangladesh Christian Association told AsiaNews, "The Church is not just the clergy, but also of us, lay people, we absolutely need to study theology more." Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario of Dhaka, the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh said that as they want lay Catholics be better prepared on doctrine, they would start related courses. Out of Bangladesh’s some 163.6 million people, 89% are Muslim, 9.6% Hindu, and only 0.4% are Christian, mostly Catholic. (Source: AsiaNews)