Yesterday in Berhampore the local bishop and civil authorities unveiled a statue dedicated to the Blessed who had visited the city in 1988. The honour was the idea of a former district magistrate. The Mother Teresa International Film Festival will also open on this occasion featuring a movie by Dominique Lapierre on the life of the missionary.

Mumbai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Berhampore City in West Bengal’s Murshidabad District yesterday honoured Mother Teresa with the unveiling of her statue at a civic function held in the presence of the entire civil administration.

District Magistrate Subir Kumar Bhadra along with Archbishop Lucas Sirkar of Kolkata, Bishop Joseph Gomes of Krishnagar (Nadia Districtt), Church of North India Bishop Brojen Malakar of Barrackpore and Kolkata Salesian Provincial Fr John Berger as well as several civic leaders took part in the ceremony

The statue by a well known local artist, Mr Kanchan Karmakar, was placed at the intersection of two roads that link the District Magistrate’s Office and Administration.

“I wanted someone worthy of people’s love in front of DM’s Office,” said former District Magistrate Manjunatha Prasad who launched the project.

“It is the tribute of the people of Berhampore to the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who visited us on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Don Bosco’s death in 1988. We honour her with a statue on the golden jubilee of the Don Bosco Society Murshidabad,” said the coordinator of the Mother Teresa events Fr K. K. Sebastian, parish priest at Berhampore, s Catholic Church.

A four-day ‘Mother Teresa International Film Festival’ will also be held at Berhampore Town Hall Rabindra Sadan, 27-30 June, to mark the occasion. It will open with the one and only feature film dedicated to Mother Teresa. Made by Dominique Lapierre, who admired the Mother Teresa, it was 15 years in the making. Titled In the Name of God’s Poor, it stars Charlie Chaplain’s daughter Geraldine in the role of Mother Teresa.

• INDIA
• CATHOLIC
• CHURCH
• MOTHER
• TERESA
• POOR