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The Lord Jesus Church (Bengali: Prabhu Jisur Girja) is a Catholic church located at Taltala, a locality at the centre of the city of Kolkata (Calcutta) in India. Formerly a Church of Scotland Presbyterian place of worship it was handed over to the Jesuits in 1969, who made of it a centre of various apostolic activities.
Alexander Duff, a Presbyterian Scottish missionary, arrived in Calcutta at the beginning of the 19th century. Very active, he established the General Assembly's Institution in 1830, which is now known as the Scottish Church College.
In 1843, a serious schism divided the Church of Scotland, which had consequences even in India. The Presbyterians split into two groups and a new ‘Free Church of Scotland’ was born. In Calcutta the new ‘Free’ church built its place of worship at Wellesley Street.
The two Presbyterian churches reconciled and formed a new union in 1929, as a consequence of which the Wellesley street church lost its importance. In Calcutta, from 1942 on, the two religious congregations joined together in only one, choosing the St. Andrew's Church as their place of worship.
In 1969 the Wellesley church and attached buildings were handed over to the Jesuit fathers who gave it the Bengali name of ‘Prabhu Jisur Girja’ (Church of the Lord Jesus).
The adjacent building became the fathers’ residence and a centre of pastoral activities in the Bengali language (secretariat for liturgical translations, Christian Life Movement’s office, 'Leadership training service', etc.). Over the years other pastoral works and institutions were established: a center of media and social communications, called `Chitrabani', since 1973, and a house of formation for young Jesuits, since 1981.
In 2005 the vast church, which till then was technically a ‘public oratory’ was made a parish of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, under the same title of `Prabhu Jisur Girja'. The greater part of religious services celebrated in the church are in the Bengali language
Ram Mohan Roy, popularly regarded as the "Father of Indian Renaissance," was an Indian reformer and writer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent. He was given the title of Raja by Mughal emperor Akbar II.
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are entitled to courtesy titles. The collective "Lords" can refer to a group or body of peers.
A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.
In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister. In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained.
Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in Asia. It has been rated (A) by the Indian National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Students and alumni call themselves "Caledonians" in the name of the college festival, "Caledonia". The Scottish Church College has been embellished as GRADE-I Heritage Building on 8th November, 2023.
Alexander Duff (25 April 1806 – 12 February 1875 , was a Scottish missionary in India; where he played a large part in the development of higher education. He was a Moderator of the General Assembly and convener of the foreign mhe establish of Western Educatin Instutions
committee of the Free Church of Scotland and a scientific liberal reformer of anglicized evangelism across the Empire. He was the first overseas missionary of the Church of Scotland to India. On 13 July 1830 he founded the General Assembly's Institution in Calcutta, now known as the Scottish College. He also played a part in establishing the University of Calcutta. He was twice Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland in 1851 and 1873, the only person to serve the role twice.
The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India.
Anti-Protestantism is bias, hatred or distrust against some or all branches of Protestantism and/or its followers, especially when amplified in legal, political, ethic or military measures.
A church is a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by clergy or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek non-profit corporate status.
Fort William College was an academy of oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India, located within the Fort William complex in Calcutta. Wellesley started the Fort William College to train the European administrators. He backdated the statute of foundation to 4 May 1800, to commemorate the first anniversary of his victory over Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam. Thousands of books were translated from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu into English at this institution.
Pastoral care, or cure of souls, refers to emotional, social and spiritual support. The term is considered inclusive of distinctly religious and non-religious forms of support, including atheist and religious communities. It is also an important form of support found in many spiritual and religious traditions.
Paul-François-Marie Goethals, S.J., was a Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary in British India and the first Archbishop of Calcutta.
Jnana Deepa (JD), Institute for Philosophy and Theology is located at Pune, India. It is the academic component of Papal Seminary, Pontificium Athenaeum Kandiensis seu Pooniensis. Founded by the Pope Leo XIII with the motto “Filii tui India administri tibi salutis” in Kandy in 1893, it was transferred to Pune (India) in 1955. Catering primarily to the formation of diocesan priests but open to Catholic faithful and other religious orders, especially candidates to the Catholic priesthood it is entrusted by the Holy See to the Society of Jesus for training future Catholic leaders.
Christianity is a minority religion in Maharashtra, a state of India. Approximately 79.8% of the population of Maharashtra are Hindus, with Christian adherents being 1.0% of the population. The Roman Catholic archdiocese whose seat is in Maharashtra is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bombay. There are two different Christian ethnic communities in Maharashtra: the Bombay East Indians, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and the Marathi Christians, who are predominantly Protestant with a small Roman Catholic population.
Christianity in West Bengal, India, is a minority religion. According to the 2011 census of India, there were 658,618 Christians in West Bengal, or 0.72% of the population. Although Mother Teresa worked in Kolkata (Calcutta), Christianity is a minority religion in Kolkata as well. West Bengal has the highest number of Bengali Christians. Bengali Christians have been established since the 16th century with the advent of the Portuguese in Bengal. Later in the 19th and 20th centuries, many upper-class Bengalis converted to Christianity during the Bengali Renaissance under British rule, including Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Anil Kumar Gain, and Gnanendramohan Tagore. Aurobindo Nath Mukherjee was the first Indian to be Anglican Bishop of Calcutta.
The Calcutta School-Book Society was an organisation based in Kolkata during the British Raj. It was established in 1817, with the aim of publishing text books and supplying them to schools and madrasas in India.
Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments.
Kali Charan Banerjee (1847–1907), spelt also as Kalicharan Banerji or K.C. Banerjea or K.C. Banurji, was a Bengali convert to Christianity through the Free Church of Scotland, the founder of Calcutta Christo Samaj, a Calcutta lawyer, and a founding member of the Indian National Congress.
Kali Charan Chatterjee D. D. (1839–1916), also spelt as Kali Charan Chatterji or K.C. Chatterjea, was a Bengali Christian missionary who worked with the American Presbyterian Mission in Hoshiarpur, Punjab and served as the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church in India upon its formation in 1904.