Assam’s first Jesuit priest is a Hindu convert

Guwahati – Fr. Mathew Das, who was ordained as a priest on November 20, 2005, and took up his first assignment at the Assumption Church in Kathmandu, Nepal, on December 3, 2005, is not only Assam’s first Jesuit priest but also a Hindu convert, Indian Catholic News Service (ICNS) has reported.

During the Thanksgiving Mass held at Guwahati’s St Joseph’s Church, the 35–year–old priest gave an emotional speech, saying, “My aim is to bring people together from all communities without any discrimination.”

Fr. Mathew or Mintu (as he was known earlier) was attracted to Christianity by the gospel music. “The prose and music emanating from the church left me mesmerised,” Mathew recalled.

Fr. Mathew was born in north Guwahati in 1970 to Gopal and Aruna Devi and studied at Tezpur, Ambagaon and Gossaigaon before moving to Bettiah in Bihar and Kathmandu in Nepal for higher studies.

It was in Kathmandu that Mathew decided to become a Jesuit priest and joined the Society of Jesus in 1992.

He went on to graduate in philosophy from Jnanadeepa Vidyapeeth in Pune, in theology from Vidyajyoti College in New Delhi and earned a BE degree from Sikkim. He was ordained as a priest in Gossaigaon on Nov. 20.

Fr. Mathew’s immediate goal is to “use the spirituality of Church music to strengthen Nepali culture.” Before heading for Kathmandu, he visited Allahabad to deliver a spiritual lecture.

“My responsibilities have increased since being ordained as a priest from the Assamese community,” he said after the Thanksgiving Mass.

The two–and–a–half–hour programme showcased Assamese culture with Bihu and Borgeet depicting the synthesis of Assamese culture and Christianity, national daily, The Telegraph has reported.

Though Fr. Mathew faced severe opposition from his family when he initially converted, yet, asserts, the head of Jesuit House in Guwahati, Fr. Walter Fernandes, the new priest’s family was now proud of his achievement.

The first Christian missionaries arrived in Assam from Spain in September 1626, but the religion did not spread until Baptist missionaries set up camp in the 19th century. Around 4 per cent of the state’s 24 million people are now Christians.