Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Purnea, 1998
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has established (June 27th 1998) the Diocese of Purnea (India) with territory taken from the diocese of Dumka making it suffragan of the Metropolitan Church of Ranchi.
The new Diocese of Purnea (India) will include the following civil districts, until now part of the diocese of Dumka: Purnea, Katihar, Araria and Kishanganj.
The reasons for the establishment of the new diocese are as follows"
- good prospects for evangelization among the Santals;
- the vast size of the mother diocese prevented adequate development, particularly in the area north of the River Ganges;
- it will be easier for the Bishop to visit villages and encourage and confirm the people in their faith
Here are the statistics of the new diocese and the mother diocese before and now:
|
|
Dumka before |
Purnea |
Dumka today |
||||
|
Area |
22,814 sq km |
11,000 sq km |
11,814 sq km |
||||
|
population |
10,293,189 |
6,300,000 |
3,993,179 |
||||
|
Catholics |
82,341 |
16,115 |
66,226 |
||||
|
parishes |
35 |
10 |
25 |
||||
|
Priests (diocesan) |
68 |
13 |
55 |
||||
|
Priests (religious) |
47 |
7 |
40 |
||||
|
Brothers |
24 |
6 |
18 |
||||
|
Women Religious |
281 |
59 |
222 |
||||
|
Major seminarians |
29 |
- |
- |
||||
|
Catechists |
504 |
123 |
381 |
||||
|
schools |
118 |
26 |
92 |
||||
|
charitable institutes |
10 |
7 |
3 |
||||
The diocese will border to the west with the diocese of Muzaffarpur, to the east with the diocese of Raiganj, to the north with the Apostolic Prefecture (and country ) of Nepal, and to the south with the mother diocese Dumka and the diocese of Bhagalpur. The Bishop will have his See at Purnea where there is a parish church dedicated to St Peter (built in 1836) which will become the cathedral.
Source: Fides, August 21st, 1998
- CT
