By Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil

Guwahati, Feb 16, 2022: I have been asked to write a few lines on the Salesian work in Northeast India as they celebrate the centenary of the arrival of their first missionaries to the region in 1922 — a team of 11 of three national origins.

The Early Pioneers in the Northeast

I cannot do so without referring the German Salvatorian missionaries, who served the mission as pioneers from 1890 until the First World War and set up the first communities. The earliest missionary visitors to the region were te Jesuits in 1626, then the Foreign Missionaries of Paris 1850-1854, Foreign Missionaries of Milan 1972-1890, and Jesuits again during the War period 1915-1922.

Diocesan Fathers and Other Congregations

Much appreciation is due to the valiant diocesan priests too who joined the missionary team from the 1960’s and the numerous congregations that have come over to help ever since. The Northeast today is drawing more and more daring apostolic men and women from all over India, while she herself is sending out highly motivated missionaries to different parts of Asia and Africa, not to mention Europe and America. Due measure of admiration for each group!

However, in this article I am asked to concentrate on the Salesian contribution.

The Pioneers Who Took up Work in 1922

We must not forget that many of the first missionaries who came to the missions in the 1920s were persons who were toughened by war experiences and therefore ready for sacrifice of every kind in the cause of the Gospel. Many of them died of malaria within a few years. Though they were speedily replaced, the growth of the missionary team was never able to keep pace with the growth of the mission. But the determination to achieve remained.

One thing helped the effectiveness of the missionary team from the beginning: the insistence of Monsignor Louis Mathias, the mission superior, that all young volunteers for the missions from Europe should be given their apostolic formation in the mission field itself, right from the novitiate. That contributed a great deal towards the cultural insertion of young missionaries into Northeast India’s diverse local communities.

As the missionaries themselves belonged to different nationalities, an openness to different cultural identities, ways, styles, and sensitivities of various tribal communities came natural to them. Their inculturation approach was spontaneous and unsophisticated. They just responded to reality. They adopted local ways from their early youth. Salesian Sisters too, who joined them in 1923, benefited from Monsignor Mathias’ initiatives and styles.

The Sense of Strategy of Monsignor Louis Mathias

Undoubtedly Louis Mathias was a man of vision. Certain strategic decisions he made during the second decade of his term as mission superior was to transform the Northeast situation radically: in 1931 he established Dibrugarh as a parish, in 1932 Tezpur, 1933 Tura, each of which would develop into a diocese in due time. His motto “Dare and Hope” seemed to bear fruit. In 1934 Shillong was made a diocese, in 1935 he was transferred to Madras-Mylapore as Archbishop, and in 1936 Bishop Stephen Ferrando took over the diocese of Shillong. One happening led to the other as though pre-planned.

Bishop Ferrando Close to Village Communities

Within a couple of months of Bishop Ferrando’s taking over Shillong, the Bishop’s House, Cathedral, and house of formation burnt down in a disastrous fire that dealt a severe blow to the young diocese. As the missionary team was struggling to get over the shock, World War II hit them hard again, with several missionaries being taken into detention camps. It called for a mighty effort even to maintain existing missions, let alone expand.

And yet, the mission did expand under Bishop Ferrando, also with the help of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, a congregation of indigenous members he founded.

Bishop Ferrando himself remained on the frontlines visiting villages from end to end of Assam. Moving to interior areas (“peripheries”) with zeal was a tradition he had passed on to his junior colleagues even from the days when he was a novice master and rector. Bishop Orestes Marengo who would later initiate the dioceses of Dibrugarh, Tezpur and Tura was the very incarnation of this tradition which has become a part of the common heritage of the Northeastern Church today. The Madonna Sisters of Archbishop Hubert D’Rosario too would emphasize this ministry.

The Role of the Laity

But what did make a difference at every stage of the mission’s growth was the role that the laity would play in its expansion: not only catechists, teachers and village church leaders, but also every believer, young and old, men and women, educated and uneducated. The energy, dynamism and the positive outlook of the Northeastern people found an evangelical expression after their encounter with enthusiastic missionaries who valued their cultural genius. They felt affirmed and appreciated and their contribution recognized and respected.

The greatest gift a young person can receive is to be helped to build his self-esteem and self-confidence, and be given a sense mission and commitment to a great cause. Some of them would emerge at the national level even in the political field, like Purno Sangma, Peter Marbaniang, Khek Mawlong, and Sylvius Condpan.

And again, positive vibrations within the community, which always included the missionary team, created a stimulating atmosphere even in the larger society. It was the result of making people feel valued, esteemed, and assisted to emerge great on the social/apostolic field. Some young members would join congregations like Mother Teresa’s and move to the ends of the earth, or play responsible roles in others.

The Contribution of Youth

Salesians being educators, the undivided Assam Mission gave great importance to education from the beginning. Every parish had a school, and most of them maintained a boarding house to impart deeper religious education at least to a few of the rising generation. In the early days, parents had to be coaxed and even paid to send their children to school. People remember the time when the fee in Don Bosco boarding house in Guwahati was just one rupee and a half. Gradually, primary schools inched their way to become middle and high schools, and today there are several colleges and a University.

Youth from the boarding houses, as they were better instructed in the Catholic faith, were a dynamic force in the villages during their holidays, helping the local catechists, organizing programs for children, being active performers in community events. And they taught good things with authority! What they have done for the progress of the people in the mission field, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, remains unique in any part of the world. Many of them look back and say that the happiest days of their lives were when they were in the mission boarding house.

Church Developed

Chronologically, I have run ahead. With the conclusion of World War II and the Independence of India, the scenario in the Assam mission greatly changed. Many Indian missionaries joined the team: Salesians, diocesan priests, congregations of men and women from different parts of India. With God’s blessing, there was continuity in the missionary tradition, largely due to the sturdiness of the Northeastern shared ethos. Despite differences there was much in common.

And as the Christian community grew, educational institutions multiplied, formation houses for men and women increased, new dispensaries and hospitals came up, development and training centers grew in numbers, communication networks expanded. Today the region has 15 dioceses with their own seminaries, educational and medical services, and publication units in various languages. Vocations too have risen in impressive numbers.

Missionaries’ Closeness to the Masses

For humanity, a consciousness of their “interdependence” is more important than the growth of the GDP or the discovery of rare mineral resources. This awareness is the strength of tribal communities. Concerns, anxieties, and hopes are shared. In other words, there is a strong sense of co-belonging. The masses and their leaders form a single social reality. Mahatma Gandhi was very much aware of that. Missionaries and rural communities belonged together. That is what made them work wonders, as Father Lievens did in Chotanagpur and Father Vendrame in the Khasi Hills.

When missionary pioneers held common events in the villages, their psyche got attuned to that of the community. They thought together and moved forward together. As they were very much at the people’s wavelength, what they longed for became the longing of the community. Whatever they suggested became a common program for action. Great things got done as though effortlessly.

Sharing of agonies and anxieties also led to the stirring of aspirations and hopes together. This furthered the sharing of development initiatives, peace ventures, reconciliation efforts, with a human touch qualifying everything.

Missionaries’ Closeness to Intellectuals

Nor were the intellectuals kept at a distance in an eagerness to reach out to the illiterate masses. There was a determined effort to be close to creative thinkers in society: trend setters, value-inspirers and visionaries in the community. The first books that were published in most languages in the Northeast, including Assamese, were the fruit of the work of missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant. In most cases, the very first book was the Bible.

The dialogue with the ‘thinking element’ in society increased over the years. Their shared eagerness was to become co-creators of an uplifting culture that pointed to the Kingdom of God in this imperfect world, furthering sober and balanced thinking and prompting elevated goals. Their success stories have been amazing.

Collective Thinking of the Northeastern Church

Theological institutes like Oriens Theological College and Sacred Heart Theological College in Shillong have contributed a great deal to the collective thinking of the Church in Northeast India, both in its self-understanding and in the perception of its mission ahead. Publications have increased. Assam mission, that once was an unknown church unit in a corner of India, has emerged as an adult Church capable of playing a helpful role at the national level, providing sturdy personnel for every rank in society both in the civil and ecclesiastical field.

Those who rush to the Northeast in search of vocations or to have a presence will do well to respect the culture and individuality of the region itself and not forget the needs and compulsions of a young Church.

Great Personalities

I have not gone to the listing of great personalities involved in this dramatic development of an amazing young Church lest I forget some important names. However, I would at least refer to Salesian Archbishops Tarcisius Resto, Dominic Jala, Bishops Robert Kerketta, Abraham Alangimattathil, Mathai Kochuparampil, Joseph Aind, George Palliparambil, who have played their own roles in their respective places in their times.

And with due respect to their personal stature in their own right, several of the bishops of the region beginning with Bishops Joseph Mittathany and George Mamalassery were students of early Salesian missionaries. This would be true of many of the priests and religious of the region as well.

I would be unfair if did not pay tribute to provincials or bold pioneers like Fathers Alessi, Pianazzi, Paviotti, Ravalico, Baloine, Med, Pulingathil, Karotemprel and others.

Youth Work

And as new missionaries in large numbers with significant competences have taken over responsibilities at every level in the local churches, the Salesians, while still remaining in the pastoral field, have gone more into youth services of various kinds, like Don Bosco Institute in Guwahati, Don Bosco University, several colleges, Snehalaya serving youth in peril, social services like those of Bosco Reachout. Don Bosco Missiological Museum in Shillong is unique of its kind.

I would not go into listing all the institutions or initiatives that the Salesians have launched. But the congregation itself has grown in the region with three provinces: Guwahati, Dimapur and Shillong, each sending out missionaries to Africa and other parts of the world.

A Young Church with a Great Future

I know my account is imperfect from several points of view. Done in a hurry, many persons, events and trends may be overlooked. A perspective developed from Dimapur or Shillong could be different. A writeup addressed to Salesians alone would be different.

In any case, an account of the Salesian work in the Northeast could not be delinked with the general growth of the Catholic Church in the region and what contributed to its growth. I do not know where to draw a line.

Though during the inter-War period the Salesians were alone in the field, after India’s independence, and especially from the 1960’s, church work increasingly was a shared venture of many hands and many groups, especially with the diocesan fathers. But our common joy is the emergence of dynamic young Christian community with a great sense of mission that can mean much for India, and for the rest of Asia.