On the Solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, the Holy Cross Generalate received the Most Rev. Kevin Randall, Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh, for its feast day Mass and lunch. The archbishop is in Rome for meetings with the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

Joining the Superior General, Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., and members of the General Administration at the Mass were the Congregation’s eight pioneering missionaries to the Diocese of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea who are in Rome for a two-week orientation.

During the Mass, with all that has transpired in the country in recent weeks weighing on their hearts and minds, the Holy Cross religious and apostolic nuncio offered special prayers for the people of Bangladesh in the hope that there might be an enduring stability and peace from which the country might chart a path forward that ensures justice, promotes the common good, and upholds the rights and dignity of all, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.

In his homily, in light of the feast day, Archbishop Randall invited the General Administration and the PNG missionaries to reflect on three points: “How can we be theotokos or Godbearers, imitating him in word and in deed? How can we smell like our sheep? And how can we go through this synodal process listening to the voice of the people?”

Prior to the Final Blessing, the Apostolic Nuncio led the assembly in prayers for the beatification of the Congregation’s two Servants of God from Bangladesh: Archbishop Theotonius Ganguly, C.S.C., and Br. Flavian Laplante, C.S.C.

Archbishop Ganguly was the first Bengali bishop in the Church’s history and shepherded the Archdiocese of Dhaka during the trying time of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Br. Laplante, a missionary from Canada, devoted much of his religious life to the service of the poor fishermen in the Diang region before founding an ashram or hermitage dedicated to Mary in his final years.

Following the Mass, Archbishop Randall spent an hour in conversation with the General Administration and PNG missionaries, sharing on his work as Apostolic Nuncio and addressing the current situation in Bangladesh. He then joined the community for its feast day lunch.

Learn about Holy Cross in Bangladesh

“Our mission in Bangladesh dates back to our Founder, and our community there today is one of our largest in the world,” said Br. Bednarczyk. “To pray and speak with the Apostolic Nuncio from Bangladesh, particularly in this time of unrest and uncertainty in the country, was a blessing for our Generalate community and for our pioneering missionaries to Bougainville. We continue to pray for the people, the Church, and our Holy Cross community in Bangladesh. We look forward to continuing to work with Archbishop Randall and others in the Church to provide, as the Nuncio said, a ‘witness to Christ and to hope’ in Bangladesh.”