India, Aug. 17 -- Bengal, once celebrated as a land of pluralism and reform, is today witnessing a troubling contradiction. The same soil that welcomed waves of missionaries from the 15th century - who built schools, hospitals, and printing presses, who healed the sick and educated the poor, who stood alongside reformers in shaping Bengal's modern identity - now sees priests threatened with ultimatums to vacate their parishes.

From the Jesuits of Hugli to the Serampore Trio, from the charitable hospitals of Jiaganj to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity tending to the destitute on Kolkata's streets, Bengal's Christian legacy has been one of service and coexistence.

That legacy is also embodied in East India's oldest church, Bandel ...