The Catholics of Bhutan - A Church without temples
In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan there is no public Catholic temple: the about a thousand Bhutanese Catholics live their faith in private prayer and depend pastoral on the Indian diocese of Darjeeling. His little story is woven from extraordinary encounters.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The first Catholic contact with Bhutan was in 1627, when the Portuguese Jesuits Estêvão Cacella and João Cabral crossed the kingdom on the way to Tibet.
- The Canadian Jesuit William Mackey, invited as an educator, worked in the country since 1963: the king granted him the Druk Thuksey medal in 1973 and, upon his death in Thimphu in 1995, the king himself and the government paid him tribute.
- The first native Catholic priest, the Jesuit Kinley Tshering, was ordained on 23 October 1995; his vocation is linked to an encounter with Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
- The Bhutanese constitution guarantees religious freedom but prohibits inducing conversion, and foreign missionaries are not allowed to reside for the purposes of evangelization: Christians gather to pray in the houses.
The Catholics of Bhutan
The Church of Bhutan is one of the smallest and most hidden in the world: without temples or parish priests, its faithful pray the Rosary in the privacy of the home, entrusted to the Mother who does not forget any of her children.
"St. Mary, Mother of those who pray in the hidden, pray for the Catholics of Bhutan.
Is the advocation of the Virgin Mary of your people missing?
Si no encuentras la advocación mariana de tu ciudad o pueblo, cuéntanosla: la investigaremos para ubicarla y darla a conocer en este mapa del amor de la Madre por el mundo.
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