On January 4, 2024, St. Joseph Province of Brothers welcomed fifteen students in grades 9 and 10 into the new Holy Cross Juniorate in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. The new formation house is focused toward young men, ages 12-15, and is the second high school level formation house in the country for St. Joseph Province. The Juniorate is located on the same property as the province’s newest school, Holy Cross School-Rajshahi, and is staffed by two Holy Cross religious.

For the young men who choose to enroll, the Juniorate provides a space for early discernment as they pray together and consider a vocation as a future Holy Cross brother. St. Joseph Province has seen a large growth in vocations in recent years with 125 temporary and finally professed brothers and a presence in eight dioceses in Bangladesh.

St. Joseph Province Steward Br. Xavier Rozario, C.S.C., explains:

“The process for becoming a Holy Cross Brother involves not so much a program in which one is ‘trained for job’, as it does a renewed relationship of discipleship with the Lord. Becoming a Holy Cross Brother entails a radical change in a man’s way of life through which a brotherly identity is formed and revealed.”

Mission Center Director Fr. Tom Eckert, C.S.C., participated in the dedication ceremony of the new Juniorate building on January 22, 2024, along with Bishop of the Diocese of Rajshahi Most Rev. Gervais Rozario, Superior General Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., and Provincial Superior of St. Joseph Province Br. Subal Rozario, C.S.C.

Published: April 1, 2024