History erased? Bangladesh Catholics struggle to recover first church land

Jan 10, 2026 / 07:00 am

A financial crisis has halted the Catholic Church’s efforts to reclaim the site of Bangladesh’s first church, leaving the 426-year-old foundation in Satkhira occupied and unpreserved.

Two Portuguese Jesuit priests — Father Francesco Fernandes and Father Domingo de Sousa — built the country’s first church at Iswaripur in the Sundarbans Forest area in the present-day southern Satkhira district. They dedicated it on Jan. 1, 1600, as the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.

The priests built the church with the permission and funding of the then-Raja (King) Pratapaditya. At the time, many Portuguese soldiers worked under Pratapaditya and worshipped at the church.

The church no longer exists, and a Muslim family has since settled on the land. However, the district’s official website still preserves its history online.

According to the Bangladesh government’s website, many Portuguese soldiers serving in Pratapaditya’s army contributed funds for the church’s construction. Additionally, Pratapaditya assisted in building the place of worship for Christians in his capital, with construction completed in December 1599.

“The bishop took the initiative to take over the site on behalf of the Catholic Church and offered to pay for it, but those living there did not agree. The then-bishop did not pursue it further for some reason,” said Father Philip Mondal, who oversees the Khulna Diocese’s land in the area.

The late Bishop Michael D’Rozario, who led the Khulna Diocese from 1970 to 2005, was the first to attempt to save the church site. Mondal noted he is unsure if the bishop sought administrative assistance at that time.

“But now, to take over this place, we need the support of the administration and a lot of money, which the Khulna Diocese cannot provide,” Mondal told CNA.

However, the priest believes that with government backing and external financial support, the Church in Bangladesh could reclaim this historically unique site.

Christians make up less than 1% of Bangladesh’s 170 million people, a tiny minority in the predominantly Muslim country. The Catholic community, with approximately 400,000 members, is the single-largest Christian group.

Members of the Muslim and Hindu majority often regard Christians highly for their significant contributions to education, health, and social development. Christian missionaries also contributed historically to the Bengali language, promoting its colloquial and simplified form.

Lay Catholics are urging the Church to establish at least a small chapel on the site to preserve its history.

“We have only read in books that the first church in Bangladesh was in Iswaripur, but now when we go there, we do not find any trace of it. It cannot be that the history of a religion has been erased,” Praveen Mondal, 34, a Catholic, told CNA.

He believes that Christianity and its first church are inextricably linked, making the preservation of this memory a major responsibility for the Church.

CNA spoke to Rashed Hossain, a top government land officer in the area, about the site.

“It is true that the first church was established here, but now that church does not exist. However, we need to see how the people who live there now came to own the land,” Hossain told CNA.

He added that if the Church makes a formal request to the government, officials will “look into the matter seriously.”