The congregation, – 22 bishops, 200 priests and 500 Sisters and some 4,000 faithful – responded extending their right hand in prayerful blessing as the newly ordained Bishop bowed his head in prayer.
The gesture was an expression of the synodal church which consists of baptized faithful, ordained priests and vowed religious walking together in discipleship.
The bishop-elect’s uncle, Bishop Emeritus Theotonius Gomes of Dhaka, presided over the episcopal ordination along with Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta, Salesian Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, President of the Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conference, and some 18 other bishops.
Also present was Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli.
Gomes, the sixth Salesian priest to serve as the bishop of Krishnagar diocese was the rector of Salesian College Sonada as well as vice-principal of Salesian College Siliguri before becoming 16th head of Salesians’ Calcutta province and headed the Don Bosco operations of Bengal, Sikkim, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Born to late Andrew and Agnes Gomes at Khalpara (Begopara), Ranaghat in Nadia district, the 63-year-old bishop has a doctorate in Pedagogical Sciences from Salesian Pontifical University, Rome.
The diocese of Krishnagar established in 1870 comprises of Nadia and Murshidabad districts of central Bengal with 66,000 faithful spread out in 21 parishes and 130 plus substations. They are being ministered to by a team of 45 diocesan priests and 37 religious priests mostly Salesians, along with Sisters from some nine religious congregations and catechists.
Sources: Matters India, Catholic Hierarchy
