INDIA: Priests working in dangerous remote areas are back on track

Priests working in a remote part of India where tigers, rhinos and wild beasts roam the roads appealed to a Catholic charity for help after their motorcycles packed up and died.

Father Xavier Jayaraj, provincial superior of the Carmelite Fathers in Koilamati in Assam, north-east India, contacted Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to ask for help supporting priests doing outreach work.

The charity responded to their request with two new motorbikes.

Around 20,000 inhabitants belong to indigenous tribal groups, most to the Karbi people, and live in small village settlements in straw-thatched bamboo huts.

Since 2009 the parish has been under the care of the Carmelite Fathers, three of whom are currently working in the area.

There are Catholics living in 16 of the parish’s 50 villages and the priests visit them on Sundays, feast days and some weekdays, administering the sacraments, visiting the sick and dying, and generally providing pastoral support.

In Assam’s mountainous region the journeys are long and dangerous, covered with rainforest, and there is a real danger of encountering elephants, tigers, rhinos and other wild beasts.

The roads are also poor and many of the villages lie high up in the hills.

Fr Jayaraj told ACN that two motorcycles previously used for pastoral work were completely worn out and beyond repair.

Thanking ACN for its “generous support” he said: “Only a powerful motorcycle can cope with these difficult tracks in order to reach the people whom God has entrusted to their pastoral care.

“Thank you for your love and your understanding of our difficulties and thank you for meeting our request.

“The apostolate of the Fathers in Koilami has been greatly simplified as a result, and now they can reach the villages much more quickly and spend more time and energy serving the people.

“May God bless you all for your love and concern for us.”