Our Lady of Bandel Church, part 1

The Church of Our Lady of Bandel or simply Bandel Church, is the oldest and most famous Catholic ‎Marian shrine in eastern India.  Some 50 kms north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, the ‎historic monastery on the river Hooghly was built by Portuguese traders in 1599 and entrusted to small ‎group of Augustinian Friars.  Bandel Church came ‎under the charge of the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1928.  Since June 2015, Indian Salesian Fr. T.L. ‎Francis has been the prior as well as parish priest of Bandel Church.  Archbishop Thomas ‎D’Souza of Calcutta has designated Bandel Church as a special Jubilee of Mercy Church during the ‎current Jubilee of Mercy, which Pope Francis officially inaugurated for the worldwide Catholic Church ‎by opening the Holy Door of Mercy of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Dec. 8.  We called Fr. on his ‎mobile phone to know about the shrine and its recent developments.  Today, Fr. Francis begins the first ‎of a 2-part interview by explaining how the Holy Year of Mercy was introduced with the opening of ‎the Holy Door of Bandel Church on Dec. 13. ‎

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