Bangladeshi Church’s Lenten campaign promotes saving for charity

March 07, 2014 - A Catholic Church in Bangladesh has launched a Lenten campaign to promote sacrifice through saving for charity. Like every year, after Mass on Ash Wednesday, churches in Bangladesh distributed terracotta piggy banks to the faithful urging Catholics to "save during the 40 days that separate us from Easter" and "use the money raised for charitable and social activities". This has become an established custom among Catholics in Bangladesh over the past five years. Oblate of Mary Immaculate Fr. Ajit Costa, the parish priest of De Mazenod Church in Dhaka, told AsiaNews: "This gift is intended to teach the meaning of sacrifice. We have given a piggy bank to each family, so that Catholics could save money together.” This year the parish distributed 1,500 piggy banks, compared to 1,200 last year. Most of the collection last year of some 2,150$ went to St. Thomas Church in the diocese of Sylhet, which needed urgent repair. Some of it also went to a Christian cooperative to build houses. This year they hope to collect enough to plan for a new church. (Source: AsiaNews)