On January 28 the Most Rev. Shorot Francis Gomes, Bishop of the Diocese of Sylhet, ordained Deacon Shohag Boniface Gabil, C.S.C., to the priesthood at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, in Sreemangal, Bangladesh. The evening before the Ordination Mass there was the ceremony of blessing at the parish. Several priests, religious, family members, and guests were present for the two-day celebration.

In his homily, Bishop Gomes emphasized the importance of “the sacraments in our lives in the Church and the role of priests in mediating the grace of God through the sacraments.” In their tributes to the newly ordained, Fr. George Kamal Rozario, C.S.C., Superior of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Province, and Fr. James Cruze, C.S.C., the former superior, both acknowledged the international formation that Fr. Shohag received.

Fr. Shohag publicly thanked the United States Province of Priests and Brothers, the Holy Cross Mission Center in the United States, and the South India Province, for making this possible. Fr. Shohag did his post-novitiate formation at Moreau Seminary at the University of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame, Indiana, in the United States.

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Fr. Shohag is the fifth priest, second Holy Cross priest, and first Garo tribal priest from St. Joseph the Worker Parish. The importance of this Ordination for this region was recognized the following day at Fr. Shohag’s Mass of Thanksgiving by Fr. George Kamal Rozario, C.S.C., who said that this was a “sign of the maturation of faith and the result of the hard work of the self-giving evangelization from the former Holy Cross missionaries in the area.”

Fr. Shohag will begin his priestly ministry at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Jalchatra, in the Diocese of Mymensingh.