It’s an eventful November for Patna’s Kurji Parish. After a remarkable Christ the King procession at on Sunday (the 25th), Bihar’s most populous parish prepares to play host to the Papal Nuncio and several bishops this week.

It’s going to be an evening to remember, according to sources close to Kurji Parish Priest Raymond Cherubim SJ, with a grand high mass, some lovely choir signing and a cultural programme being put on by a few of the neighbourhood Catholic schools.

His Excellency Archbishop Giambattista Diqattro, Apsotolic Nuncio of India and Nepal will be the chief concelebrant at the inaugural High mass to mark the start of the year long Centenary Celebrations of Patna Diocese.
The year- long celebrations, are to recall the blessings, challenges, and stages in the 100 year journey of the Catholic community, and also to introspect on the contribution of the miniscule Catholic community to the development of Bihar.
The inaugural mass will a deeply significant religious event, rooted in the vision of the gospels, and in the teachings of Jesus Christ, that love of one’s neighbour is the love of God.
The Catholic community in Patna will welcome, with equal warmth the visiting Bishops from Nepal, and Bihar who are to be part of the celebration.
The Queen of Apostles’ church in Kurji will be the venue for this event which will take place in the evening of November 29, and be followed by a short cultural programme at the Hartmann school grounds.

The Most Reverend Giambattista Diquattro is an archbishop and Vatican diplomat. On 21st January 2017, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) to India and Nepal by Pope Francis. Prior to that he was Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia.
He was born on 18 March 1954, in Bologna, the capital and the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Ragusa in 1981. He received his master’s degree in civil law from the University of Catania, his Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD) from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, and his master’s degree in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He joined the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See on 1 May 1985, and served in diplomatic missions in the pontifical representations to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad, the United Nations in New York, and later in the Vatican Secretariat of State, and in the Apostolic Nunciature in Italy. He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Giru Mons and as the apostolic nuncio to Panama in 2005 by Pope John Paul II and apostolic nuncio to Bolivia in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. On January 21, 2017, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal.

  Bihar, Catholic Church