The article from EWTN News reports that several Catholic educational institutions in Dhaka, Bangladesh, will close temporarily on November 13, 2025, due to security concerns surrounding a verdict announcement in the trial of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The political unrest has included 17 homemade bomb explosions and vehicle arson attacks since the tribunal set the announcement date. While the Bangladesh Catholic Education Board Trust (BCEBT) hasn’t mandated closures, individual institutions like Notre Dame University and St. Joseph’s International School – site of a recent bomb explosion – opted for closures or online classes. BCEBT Secretary Jyoti F. Gomes stated the decisions prioritize student safety given the unpredictable political climate. Catholic institutions serve approximately 300,000 mostly Muslim students in Bangladesh.
Naturalism Supersedes Supernatural Mission in Crisis Response
The article reveals a fundamental inversion of Catholic priorities by framing the closures exclusively through secular security calculations rather than the Church’s divine mandate. Pius XI’s encyclical Divini Illius Magistri (1929) declared Catholic education exists primarily to “cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian” – a mission requiring supernatural fortitude. The reported rationale – “safety of the students comes first” – subordinates the Church’s evangelical duty to worldly precaution, ignoring Christ’s promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
This naturalistic approach manifests the ecclesial agnosticism condemned by Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), which denounced Modernists for reducing religion to “vital immanence” devoid of transcendent purpose. When Catholic institutions operate as mere social service providers rather than outposts of Christ’s Kingdom, they betray their raison d’être. The article’s silence regarding prayers, sacramental preparations, or acts of reparation during this crisis confirms the abandonment of spiritual militancy essential to authentic Catholic identity.
Omission of Christ’s Kingship Over Nations
Notably absent is any reference to Bangladesh’s obligation to recognize Christ’s social reign, despite operating institutions serving 300,000 students. Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) established that “rulers of states” must give “public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ” to maintain legitimate authority. The tribunal prosecuting Sheikh Hasina operates under purely naturalistic premises, ignoring the divine judgment before which all leaders stand (Psalm 2:10-12).
The Church’s failure to proclaim this truth constitutes culpable silence in the face of societal collapse. As Pope Leo XIII warned in Immortale Dei (1885): “States cannot, without crime, act as though God did not exist.” By not demanding Bangladesh’s consecration to Christ the King – the only solution to political instability (Quas Primas, §18) – Catholic leaders reduce themselves to crisis managers rather than prophets.
Educational Apostolate Reduced to Humanitarian Aid
The BCEBT’s emphasis on serving “mostly Muslim” students while omitting evangelization efforts exposes a betrayal of Catholic education’s primary end. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 1374) mandated that Catholic schools “aim principally at communicating Christian education to youth.” Pius XI’s Divini Illius Magistri (§80) clarified that educating non-Catholics must ultimately seek “their eternal salvation.”
The article’s celebration of numerical reach (“300,000 students”) without conversion statistics suggests the Bangladeshi Church operates on a secular NGO model. This echoes the Modernist error condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (Proposition 65): reducing Catholicism to “a broad and liberal Protestantism.” When schools prioritize physical safety over immortal souls, they functionally deny Christ’s warning: “Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).
Decentralized Authority Mirrors Conciliar Chaos
The BCEBT’s passive stance – allowing individual institutions to determine closures – demonstrates the destructive consequences of post-conciliar ecclesiology. Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) emphasized hierarchical unity as essential to the Church’s constitution. The pre-Vatican II Church would have coordinated responses through episcopal authority, not delegated decisions to administrators fearful of “homemade bombs.”
This disintegration of governance reflects the revolution predicted by St. Pius X: “They wish the Church to… shape her teachings more in accord with the temper of the age” (Pascendi, §26). When Bangladeshi Catholics face persecution, they require shepherds who recall Leo XIII’s injunction: “The Church amongst you, uncompromising in faith, never yielded to… worldly expediency” (Quae Ad Nos, 1902).
Source:
Catholic schools in Bangladesh close amid political unrest (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 12.11.2025