Before
describing the new missionary era ushered in by Fr. Premananda
Singha, here are a few words describing about the Anglo-Indian
community who were the chief preoccupations of the Kharagpur Parish
Priests and their Assistants. The Englishmen held the highest posts
who were mostly Protestants, who behaved like gentlemen, somewhat
distant and patronizing. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Indians who held the
minor managerial posts such as Foremen, Express and Passenger Drivers
were in majority. Catholics on the other hand were engaged in social
get together inviting the clergy to their homes for birthday parties
and house blessings. They were good church goers, generous in
supporting their priests and of their loyalty there was no doubt.
Independence
altered many things. Railway passes were abolished, and if
Anglo-Indians became Mail Drivers and were still getting a priority
on recruitment to apprenticeships, the European scale to pay-double
of the ‘Indian’ was also abolished. Most Anglo-Indians who could
afford it emigrated to U.K., Canada and Australia. Whereas the
younger men stayed back and turned their backs on the Railways. The
community had no strange behavior towards the church as long as they
stuck to antiquated ‘privileges’ seats in the main nave, “English
Mass” at the most convenient timings. In 1953, the parish Priest,
Fr. Richir wrote for his personal notes that the Anglo-Indian
community, after the departure of the British, held the highest
positions in the Station, the Chief Mechanical Engineer, the
Divisional Superintendent which triggered the presence of large
families and their numbers of Anglo-Indians and Catholics and made up
for those who have emigrated. Unfortunately for Fr. Richir these
consoling features were temporary and the inevitable decline in
prestige and numbers was not slow in showing the real state of
affairs.
On
the other hand the growth of the Santal Apostolate ushered in by Fr.
A. Ernst SJ and especially Fr. Premananda Singha who became the
central figure in the moment of conversions that spread from the
zealous community that Olda had become. Soon there was a mass
movement that shook the Southern Midnapore district in the mid
seventies under Fr. Prem and his companions, Cyprian Monis, Owen
D’Souza, Robert Richard D’Souza, Anthony Lobo and others with new
stations at Kamarchowki, Kearchand, Baligheria and then Chamrusai
with Frs. De Cocq and Ernst. Under the guardianship of Joachim Osta
and Fr. Francis Gomes, Midnapore rose in importance. The affect of
this rise was the birth of two Bengali-Medium High Schools, the
friendly relationship with the district authorities, in such a way
that the seat of deanery was transferred to Midnapore since 1975.
