Katihar, India, Jun 12, 2007 / 09:10 am
More than 3,000 people attended a two-hour purification ceremony and peace Mass at St. Peter Canisius Church in West Bengal, Darjeeling district, less than one week after vandals desecrated the building. The June 7 Mass was led by Bishop Thomas D'Souza of the local Diocese of Bagdogra.
It was the last part of a three-day penitential program in the diocese, conducted in 16 parishes, which sought "peace and pardon" and helped ease tensions in the district brought on by the incident.
Vandals ransacked St. Peter Canisius Church on June 1 and escaped with a gold-plated monstrance. They reportedly threw away the Blessed Sacrament.
The church, named after a 16th-century Jesuit saint, is located in the tea garden town Gayaganga, about 1,400 kilometers east of New Delhi. It was built in 1931, making it the oldest in the plains of mountainous Darjeeling. The Jesuit-run parish serves 7,000 Catholics, mostly local tea garden workers.