By Matters India Reporter
Thrissur: Fiat Mission, a Catholic lay missionary movement, has planned to distribute 33 million copies of the Holy Bible in different parts of the world by 2033.
“Millions of people in India and world do not have the Word of God in their mother tongue. The mission dioceses of the world are faced with the herculean task of printing and distributing Bible in the local languages and dialects. Fiat Mission joins hands with bishops of the world to make available the Bible in the languages and dialects of the people at a subsidized price or even distribute freely to the needy, at times, through FIAT Bible Printers,” Ceetly George, an official of Fiat Mission, told Matters India.
The Mission 2033 (Jubilee Year of JESUS) is to recruit lay people and train 33,000 FIAT Missionaries by the year 2033, to distribute 33 million copies of the Holy Bible and to circulate 33 million copies of FIAT Magazine.
“We released our first Bible in January 2010. It was in Maram, a dialect of Imphal Diocese, Manipur. Fiat Mission has published Bible in Karbi, Nyishi, Bodo, Wancho, Santhali, Misso (Dialects of Northeast India), Odia, Hindi, and Bengali. The Bible is given at a highly subsidized rate i.e. only one-third of the actual cost of production is charged,” George said.
Fiat Mission is committed to releasing of 50, 000 copies of the Bible every month. Bible is to be translated and published soon Adi, Wancho (Dialects – Arunachal Pradesh) Inchunkar, Pachauri (dialects-Nagaland) Lizu (Burmese dialect), Garo (dialect-Meghalaya), Tangkhul (dialect-Manipur), Bundeli (dialect- Madhya Pradesh), two African languages and more. This ministry aims to print and distribute the Holy Bible in non-publishing languages in the world, with the permission of the authority of Catholic Church.
“We are inspired to subsidize the cost of the Bible as this will make the Word of God available even to the poorest of the poor. Financial constraints should not prevent the Word of God from reaching everyone,” George said.