DHAKA: Better pastoral care and social services, interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, and infrastructure development are top priorities for the newly erected Barisal Diocese in southern Bangladesh.

Pope Francis erected Barisal Diocese on Dec. 29, dividing Chittagong Diocese and appointing Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader of Chittagong as the bishop of the new diocese.

Barisal is the eighth Catholic diocese in Bangladesh. The new diocese has six parishes and about 16,900 Catholics.

The installation ceremony of the new bishop and official inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 29.

Barisal was part of Chittagong Diocese since its erection in 1927. The mother diocese included three regions — Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Barisal. It covered 46,331 kilometers or 33 percent of the country.

The long distance — about 250 kilometers — from diocesan headquarters in Chittagong made it difficult for the diocese to offer proper pastoral care and social services to people in Barisal. The area also suffers from a lack of infrastructure and social development.

"Due to long distance and traveling hazards it was difficult for church officials to offer proper pastoral care for the faithful.... So, offering better pastoral and social care to people is the first priority for the new diocese," Holy Cross Bishop Howlader told ucanews.com.

"The area is home to people from different faiths and churches. We would like to forge better interfaith and interdenominational relationships with all people and work together for the common good," the prelate added.

Social services including education, health and development of people, especially poor people with support of church institutions like Caritas, are also a priority for the diocese.

"There are various lay movements in the diocese offering social welfare services to people. We will try to bolster them, in order to properly utilize their resources for development of people," Bishop Howlader said.

The new diocese brings both opportunities and challenges, said Robi Christopher D’Costa, coordinator of Barisal Diocese's Family and Laity Department.

"People hope the new diocese would open up ways for development in pastoral care, education, health and social services. All of these require money and this is a big challenge for the diocese," said Costa, who has served as a catechist and pastoral worker in the area for 32 years.

"Despite challenges, we hope that God will help the church grow in the diocese through the extension of pastoral and social services to people," he added.--Ucannews.com