New Delhi: Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed Fr Vincent Aind as the new bishop of Bagdogra, a diocese covering the tea estate of West Bengal.

The appointment was announced simultaneously at Vatican, the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India in New Delhi and the Bishop’s House in Bagdogra.

The diocese has been without a bishop since March 2011 when its first prelate Bishop Thomas D’ Souza was transferred to Calcutta (Kolkata) as its coadjutor archbishop.

The 60-year-old bishop elect is currently the principal of Morning Star Regional Seminary at Barrackpore near Kolkata. He is a priest of Jalpaiguri diocese

He was born on January 30, 1955 at Kalchini parish of Jalpaiguri diocese West Bengal. After ordination on April 30, 1984, he was appointed assistant pastor for one year at Damanpur. He then went to Pune for further studies and returned two years later as professor of philosophy at Morning Star Regional Seminary, Barrackpore, where he had done his philosophical studies.

He has his studies in economics from St. Joseph’s College, Darjeeling, and Theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore, a port town in Karnataka state.

He holds a Master Degree in English Literature, a Bachelor Degree in Economics, a Licentiate in Philosophy from Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, and a doctorate in Philosophy from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

He speaks and writes English, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali, Sadri, Mundari, Italian and working knowledge of French.

After his studies in Rome, he came as the spiritual director in Morning Star where he went to become rector and principal.

He also served as the parish priest of St. Lucy’s Parish, Jyoti Ashram, Chalsa, in Jalpaiguri diocese during 2005-2007.

He has also served as the diocesan consulter and member of financial council of Jalpaiguri diocese and secretary of the Commission for Clergy Religious and Seminaries for the regional bishops’ council of West Bengal.

Bagdogra was part of Darjeeling diocese until 1997 when it erected as a diocese.

Most of the Catholics in the diocese are descendents of tribal people who were brought from Chotanagpur area to work in tea estates in the foothills of Darjeeling in early 20th century. The area called ‘Terai’ was established in 1962.

Bishop-elect

Jesuit priests from St. Mary’s College, Kurseong near Darjeeling, looked after the spiritual needs of the tribal Catholics. Jesuit Father A Bossaerts set up the first station at Gayaganga in 1933.

As the number of Catholics and local vocations increased, Pope John Paul II created Bagdogra on January 25 1998, with Bishop Thomas D’Souza as its First Bishop.

The diocese covers 1,110 square kilometers where more than 1 million people live, including some 55,000 Catholics. The Catholics are mostly tribal people originally from Chotanagpur, primarily Oraon, Kharia, Munda, Santal and Baraik.

Bagdogra is one of the four sub division of Darjeeling district. Its main town is Siliguri but the diocese took the name of Bagdogra that has an airport.

Some 60 priests, 35 brothers and 150 nuns serve its 19 parishes.

Major ethnic groups in the diocesan territory are Bengali, Nepali, various tribal communities, dalit Rajvanshi, Bihari and Bhutanese. Many refugees from neighboring Bangladesh are also found there. The main languages used are Bengali, Hindi, Oraon, Sadri, Santali, Nepali and English.

Tea estates are a mainstay of the local economy. People also earn their living by cultivating rice and collecting stones to be used for road construction or beside railway tracks.