Fr Dotti, a witness to the tenderness of Christ in Bangladesh
The PIME missionary is responsible for directing the spiritual path of priests and nuns. Thanks to the requirement of secrecy, he has gained the trust of the clergy. "I'm a good listener,” he says. However, “If I looked only at the number of baptised, I would be deemed a failure”; yet, Christ “has kept me afloat” for everything is a gift from God.
Rajshahi (AsiaNews) – Fr Carlo Dotti, a 73-year-old priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), has spent a lifetime serving Christ in Bangladesh, helping the disabled and spiritually guiding hundreds of priests and nuns "with the aim of bringing out their essence as people”.
Speaking to AsiaNews, he described his 40 years of mission, spent above all in training seminarians, accompanying them in their spiritual discernment, preaching in retreats and bearing witness to the Gospel in his calm and gentle way.
“My missionary service in Bangladesh,” he says, “is about doing my best to be a witness of Christ, of his goodness, tenderness, compassion and his love for people, whilst fitting in the local Church, to engage in dialogue and support the clergy."
Fr Carlo is reserved and thoughtful but, as a priest, he is resolute. "I am a good listener," he says, and precisely because of his open nature he manages to win the trust of people, who have deep respect for him.
The eighth of ten children, he learnt as a child “to observe my older brothers and sisters, figure out their interests and aspirations. I don't even know why so many people feel so much respect for me. Sometimes I think it's more for what I don't do."
Born in Levate, Bergamo (Italy), on 6 February 1946, the missionary currently lives in Rajshahi, at the bishop's residence, from where he mentors those priests "who tend to veer off. In me they find someone to whom they can confide and talk in secrecy about their problems, brother to brother.”
In fact, spiritual orientation, he explains, "has the advantage of being secret, because it is the prolongation of confession. It does not consist in preaching, but in asking questions. For my part, I try to look at their behaviour, fears and anxieties in light of the Christian life and the Word of God. They find comfort and serenity."
His vocation started "at home". A paternal uncle, named like him, was a Capuchin friar and dedicated his entire life to the mission in Brazil. The family "was deeply Catholic and wanted a son to become a priest".
Fr Carlo entered the seminary as a child, "but I was waiting for the sign of the calling". At the age of 16 he started working and waited for a nod from the Father. Until one day "a PIME mission bulletin arrived, with a sentence on the cover: ‘The Lord calls young men and women every day. Why not you?’ That was my sign."
In 1963, at the age of 17, he entered the PIME seminary in Cervignano del Friuli as an adult, followed by the seminaries in Monza and Milan. "Like all seminarians I had so many questions and doubts. But then I stood with my heart open in prayer before the Lord and I understood that he was the one calling me."
In 1972 he took part, together with a classmate, Fr GianAntonio Baio, in the first cycle of the Oversea Training Programme, a project that allows seminarians to visit the missions to "see for oneself what the conditions are and have further confirmation if we are fit or not". Both visited Bangladesh back then, and both are still there today.
"Among other things, the country had just emerged from its War for Independence (in 1971), devastated, scorched even. There were no seeds or ploughs left. It was a tragic situation. Fr Paolo Poggi, the missionary I was staying with, was able to fall asleep only when police watchmen came and he could hear their heavy boots walk up and down the veranda. That year, Fr Angelo Maggioni, our brother, was murdered in an attempted robbery."
Faced with the dangers of the mission, the actual possibility of sacrificing one's life, Fr Carlo had no doubts and chose to give his life to serve Christ. "Being a missionary includes the possibility of becoming a martyr,” he says unperturbed.
In 1973 he was ordained a priest and the following year he left for Bangladesh. His first assignment was as parish in Boldipukur, followed by other parishes over the next 16 years. He returned to Italy for four years, then in 1995 he went back to serve as rector of the Dhaka seminary.
Later he spent two years in Mirpur parish, and then next four preaching at spiritual retreats in Bogra. At that time, he also worked for ecumenical dialogue with Protestants, then was assigned to the PIME House in Dhaka, where he remained for another nine years, acting as the spiritual director of the capital’s two seminaries. "There I understood that the Lord had given me this gift," he says.
Eventually, he was transferred to the Philippines for two years. Finally, in 2014-2015 he returned to Dinajpur to supervise the novices of the Sisters Shanti Rani, a congregation founded by a PIME bishop, and the nuns of the nearby monastery. After another stint in Dhaka, he was in Rajshahi where he currently lives.
Thinking about the challenges faced by priests every day and the doubts of seminarians and novices he met during his work, he notes "They all wonder if they will be able to live up to what is expected, if they will get along with their confreres or meet the expectations of the faithful. These are the doubts shared by young people all over the world. In addition, they have the urge to give themselves to something big."
Many of them have been "inspired by the example of other priests and nuns in the villages. This has led them to turn to the Lord's service, to give themselves to Him, to serve the people of God and, wherever possible, to bring the light of the faith to those who do not know Christ."
Once in a while Fr Carlo returns to Italy for health reasons, medical exams. Basically, however, “I was sent,” he says. “My calling is being sent. I am an envoy, which means I do not look at immediate results, which do not always arrive, for someone else does the math. If I looked only at the number of baptised, I would be deemed a failure.”
"The fruits will come when the Lord wills them, and they’ll come when one least expects them. This is what has kept me afloat in a country where everyday life is so hard. Being aware that getting results is hard; yet all that comes is a plus and a gift from God.” (A.C.F.)
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