DESTINATION BORDURIA The martyrdom of Frs. N. M. Krick and A. E. Boury of the Foreign Mission of Paris in Arunachal in 1854 sowed the seed of faith in Arunachal. But the entire Arunachal remained a mission dream till 02 August 1979, when 924 people from Borduria and other villages embraced Christianity in the presence of Fr. Thomas Menamparambil, then Rector of Don Bosco Shillong, Bp Robert Kerketta of Dibrugarh, (now Bp Emeritus of Tezpur), Bp Joseph Mittathany of Tezpur, (now Abp Emeritus of Imphal), late Fr. Mathai Kochuparambil sdb (later Bishop of Diphu), two Priests and two Nuns. On that day, a temporary Church was blessed at Borduria. In 1975, Fr. Thomas Menamparambil, met Mr. Wanglat Lowangcha, belonging to the Chief ’s family, who had brought his brother to admit in the said school. The Rector promised he would admit his brother if he brought one more boy from his Nocte tribe. Thus, Wangdung, his brother and Tero Kakho joined the school, the first Noctes to be in any Catholic school. With Mr. Wanglat, Fr. Thomas made a bold trip into the Tirap district in August 1978 and later contacted other influential people. The trip was cut short due to a fatal jeep accident. But Fr. Thomas persuaded Mr. Wanglat and his family to be baptized on 18 August 1978 at their residence in Borduria. Since 1978 the diocese of Dibrugarh under the leadership of Bp Robert Kerketta, and the Salesian province of Guwahati under Fr. Mathai Kochuparambil sdb, showed keen interest in the
Arunachal tribals. The latter appointed Fr. Job Kallarackal sdb for the job. He stayed in Naharkatia to contact the tribes of East Arunachal. On 05 July 1986, Bp Thomas Menamparambil blessed the presbytery and the first Catholic boarding school at Borduria. On 06 July, he blessed the site for the new Church in Arunachal. The missionaries of Charity opened their convent at Borduria on 20 December 1992. On 02August 1993, the first Church in the entire Arunachal Pradesh was blessed in the presence of Bl. Mother Teresa. The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill made conversion to Christianity a punishable offence. Missionaries were denied entry into Arunachal. Christians were discriminated against. But all these boosted spread of Christianity. Realizing the futility of restricting missionaries’ movements the authorities permitted missionaries to enter Arunachal. Gradually new centres were opened at Khonsa, Minthong, Kanubari, Deomali, Lazu, Nampong, Rajanagar, Roing, Tezu and other areas. On 02 August 1997, Bp Joseph Aind of Dibrugarh separated the above-mentioned centres from the Parish of Borduria and assigned to it 28 Nocte villages. On 03 July 1998 he inaugurated the Don Bosco School at Kheti for the students of Borduria. Primary schools were established at Longo, Dadam, Tissa, Moktowa and Kaimai villages. On 02 August 2004 the Catholic community of Borduria celebrated the Silver Jubilee of
Dimapur Links: July - August 2016
/5
