INDIA: Chapels provide shelter from tropical torrents on Andaman and Nicobar islands

By John Newton

Thanks to Aid to the Church in Need this chapel in the Andaman and Nicobar islands will get a new roof.

Aid to the Church in Need has come to the aid of islanders in the Bay of Bengal who could not afford to finish building chapels in rural areas with no priests.

Bishop Alex Dias explained how parishioners in his diocese of Port Blair, which covers the Andaman and Nicobar islands, have been erecting small chapels, which double as schools and parish meeting places.

In response to an urgent request from the diocese the charity has provided £12,500 (€14,000) to provide roofs for 15 chapels.

Bishop Dias said: "When Aid to the Church in Need came to our aid it was a great blessing."

He added: "Having a decent chapel helps the people to come together. [The diocese of Port Blair] is a rainy and wet place, if you don't have a decent chapel it is difficult for people to gather – having a chapel is definitely a blessing."

The bishop described how typically these chapels have been small thatched huts made of bamboo, but nine months of torrential rain every year meant the huts needed regular, extensive repairs.

Not only has repairing rain damage taken a lot of time, but the Supreme Court of India's ban on cutting naturally grown trees in rain forests, which cover roughly 86 percent of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has caused problems.

The bishop explained how even those who take bamboo or leaves for thatching roofs could be liable to arrest, "making it hard for our people to maintain the chapels".

In response to the ban some of the faithful have erected semi-concrete churches. These are built in brick for the first 3-4 foot and the rest is finished in bamboo or wood.

These were erected at the congregations' own expense, but they lacked funds to provide proper roofs, so the diocese made a commitment to supply roofing.

Bishop Dias said: "We are using aluminium sheets – as they are longer lasting."

These chapels are essential as much of the Catholic community is spread out in rural and wooded areas – and each of the diocese's 14 parishes have 15-30 sub-stations, which in some places cater for more than 200 families.

Most of these sub-stations have no regular contact with a priest, only a catechist who gathers the people on Sunday and other holy days to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word.

Bishop Dias said: "Our mission has been that every village has to be visited by a priest at least once every four months, some are more frequent."

There are 18 priests who minister to the Port Blair's 40,000 Catholics, who make up roughly 10 percent of the islands' inhabitants.

This project to complete the chapels started before 2004's tsunami, which devastated parts of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and has been "going on side by side with the repairs for the tsunami".

After the Andaman Islands were badly hit by the Tsunami Aid to the Church in Need provided £230,000 (€260,000) in aid, which included help with the reconstruction of churches, convents and other buildings.

Bishop Dias said: "We are, indeed very grateful to Aid to the Church in Need, and I assure you of our prayers for you and for all the benefactors who have made it possible to realize the above projects. May God bless you.

"We are, and we will be, forever grateful to Aid to the Church in Need".

Located approximately 125 miles south of the southerly tip of Mynamar (Burma), the Andoman and Nicobar islands are politically part of India.  

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