During
the struggle for independence, church collections had been lavish,
and Fr. Percy Sharpe a Parish Priest then had gathered enough funds
to construct a comfortable bungalow that became the present
presbytery of Kharagpur. In 1947 Fr. Sharpe was transferred to
Dhanbad where he took over Fr. Dohet who was found dead of a heat
stroke in his room, while Fr. J.B. Moyersoen replaced Fr. Percy
Sharpe as the next Parish Priest of Kharagpur.
Fr.
Moyersoen who was a former superior of the Calcutta Mission and
visitor of India was a man with a vision. His soul was in Bengal
where he brought in the Daughters of St. Ann to Midnapore where they
stayed for over a month, instructing the people. Detail interest was
taken in the village communities of Midnapore, Jhargram, Bhangamora,
Balichak and the Indian Christians about 700 of them residing in
Japatapur, Chota Tengra, Hijli and other localities south of the
station. With all these efforts Fr. Moyersoen was made Tertian Master
in Sitagarha and back came Fr. Theo Richir.
Fr.
Richir with all his sincere dedication towards his parish brought
back the golden era of the church. Sacred Heart Parish swelled with
people coming from all around, which included people from Jhargram,
Jualbhanga, Bhangamora, Midnapore and Balichak. The Church was also
visited by Bishop Oscar Severin who came from Ranchi and was making
his way to Andaman. Reaching early morning by Ranchi Express, Bishop
Oscar Severin used to spend his morning in the parish and by late
night he used to board the Madras Mail. Fr. Richir was a visionary
who wanted to correct the flaws done by “pre-Lievens”
missionaries who were on wrong tracks. In the 1860s and 70s the
Capuchins of Northern India were the leading missionaries according
to the priest. Their idea of bringing the Gospel to the adamant
Hindus was to run orphanages and settle the orphans on large estates
of Chuhari, Rampur, Latona in North Bihar and other similar
zamindaris in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab etc.
The
Capuchins imported “Daughters of the Cross” from Belgium and
opened two orphanages, at Balasore and Chanibasa. Orphans were
settled on two zamindaris, Krishna Chandrapur in Orissa and
Jualbhanga cloe to Jhargram. The next year Fr. Richir was transferred
to Asansol while Fr. Albert Ernst became the first Kharagpur Jesuit
to leave the comforts of the Railway Chaplain’s life and settled in
Midnapore. Here Fr. Ernst accepted to run for a group of local
leaders a ‘not-doing-too well’ school. He made friends with the
civil authorities and called in the “Daughters of St. Ann” to
help him running a Bengali-medium Junior High School which eventually
developed into the two present Bengali-medium Catholic High Schools
of Midnapore.
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