World Mission Week: In India with a “Missionary of Charity”

Mother Teresa’s legacy is still pervasive in Calcutta. Many want to assume it, including the Hindus. Thus, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, had the public buildings of Calcutta repainted in white and blue, in the colors of Mother Teresa. But for Father Laurent Bissara, there is a second level of reading to be hada: Mother Teresa insisted on the importance of spirituality. However, secularization is increasing in India, as Western culture spreads in the country. “Mother Teresa’s legacy may also be to fight against that”, underlines the priest of the Foreign Missions of Paris, ordained in 2017.

The mission despite anti-conversion laws

For him, being a missionary today in India is “make an authentic encounter with Hindu culture”. A sometimes complicated mission in a context where anti-conversion laws are multiplying in India. For him, this must be an additional reason for missionary zeal. These laws also make it possible to rediscover the beauty of the freedom that the Christian faith gives.

Father Laurent Bissara, India is a country where the Christian religion is very little known, and Christians are persecuted. As a French missionary, how do you manage to find your square?

In Calcutta, we are struck by misery, even if today it is a little less significant than before. Our first concern is to come to the aid of this suffering humanity. But it is also an opportunity to bear witness to Christ who comes to meet our misery. Within the HSP association (Howrah South Point), there are hostels, schools, mobile clinics… And obviously we try to announce Christ in an environment where there are very, very few Christians.

Indeed, we are in the north of India, and the Christians are mainly in the South. But that’s the grace of India too, I believe: there is an openness to all that is spiritual and therefore there is the possibility of transmitting the message of Christ.

When we think of the mission in India, among the poorest, we obviously think of Mother Teresa. What is his legacy today?

Mother Teresa is a big figure in India. She is considered an Indian. It is found almost everywhere, even in the homes of Hindus. He is an essential figure. To give a very concrete example, Mamata Banerjee, who is the “chief minister” of Bengal, had all public buildings in Calcutta painted white and blue in the colors of Mother Teresa. Everyone wants to claim their inheritance, including Hindus.

Now, we can speak of a visible inheritance, but we can also speak of fruitfulness. It’s more spiritual, so it’s harder to grasp. Today, India is facing a wave of secularization as it embraces Western culture. Even spirituality among Hindus, in other religions tends to disappear. Mother Teresa’s legacy may also be to fight against that.

And I believe that the missionary today in India tries to make an authentic encounter with the Hindu culture, because that is wherea grace can arise.

In India, Christian communities form a minority. Are you finding your place as a missionary?

For me, it’s quite simply in line, in the heritage of Father Laborde, who is much less known than Mother Teresa, unfortunately. As a reminder, it was he who inspired the city ​​of joy by Dominique Lapierre. This priest came to live in the slums of Calcutta and then developed activities in the field of education, health to help the poorest and the disabled. So me, it’s really in this context that I register. As a missionary, this is my job, that of a “missionary of charity” in a way, but also with an apostolate.

Conversion laws are multiplying. Christian communities are under attack in India. Do you suffer from these persecutions?

We are all concerned. I think that’s an additional reason for zeal. Perhaps precisely because we realize, with this threat, the importance of the freedom that faith gives. This is something that is very present, for example among teenagers or teenagers in our centers who have already told me that they want to become Christians. And since they are Hindus, they are told that they cannot officially convert before they are 18 years old. So we are attentive: we also do it under the gaze of the authorities and they are very careful about that. And so we must proclaim Christ without fear. But it is also necessary to be careful not to compromise this work of evangelization. which is done.