Kathmandu: Hindu woman convert speaks about her devotion to the Virgin
Born in a poor Hindu family in Kathmandu, Rita discovered the Catholic faith a few years ago during a serious illness. “When I was in bed with a paralysed leg, a Catholic friend came to help me. She taught to pray to God through the Bible,” she said.
“In those days, I was often lonely. All my family was at work and so I started reading some passages from the Old and the New Testament in which God says that he has plans for us and heals our suffering.”
Those words gave her comfort, Rita said, so much so that she started praying to God for healing. “The more I placed my trust in God and the Virgin, the more my health improved,” she remembers. “Thus, as soon as I could, I started attending Mass at Kathmandu’s Assumption Cathedral, and three years ago I was baptised.”
Fr Robin Rai, parish priest at Kathmandu cathedral, explains that most of the faithful, including new converts, are particularly devoted to the Virgin.
Recently, the parish placed a statue of Our Lady in front of the Cathedral.
“People offer a prayer to the Virgin before entering the church,” the priest said. During the Marian month, many stop to pray after the Mass. “We must entrust ourselves to Mary so that she may strengthen our faith,” he added.
Nepal is home to about 150,000 Christians, 8,000 Catholics. Following the collapse of the Hindu monarchy in 2006 and the establishment of a secular state, Christians have enjoyed greater freedom of worship.
Still, there have been frequent episodes of discrimination at the hand of Hindus. At the same time, the number of conversions is up.
According to the Catholic community of Kathmandu, each Sunday some 200 non-Catholics attend Mass in the cathedral.
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