Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Vasai, 1998
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has ccreated (May 22nd 1998) the diocese of Vasai (India) with territory taken from the archdiocese of Bombay, making it suffragan of the same metropolitan Church.
The new diocese of Vasai in India was created for the following reasons:
- the increase in the number of Catholics coming to live in this area
- a certain degree of uniformity of culture and language (Marathi)
- the vast area of "Taluks" in particular: Biwando, Shahapur, Wada, Mokhada and Jawahar which will pass to the new diocese: this is mission territory in which the Church is almost non-existent
- Vasai has always supplied numerous vocations to the priesthood the religious life.
Here are the statistics of the new diocese and of the mother archdiocese:
|
area |
Bombay before |
Vasai |
Bombay today |
||||
|
area |
17,309 sq km |
7,596 sq km |
9,713 sq km |
||||
|
population |
16,951,356 |
2,314,425 |
14,636,931 |
||||
|
Catholics |
651,296 |
107,119 |
544,177 |
||||
|
parishes |
137 |
26 |
111 |
||||
|
Priests (diocesan) |
353 |
47 |
306 |
||||
|
Priests (Religious) |
291 |
34 |
257 |
||||
|
Brothers |
114 |
22 |
92 |
||||
|
Sisters |
1,680 |
239 |
1,441 |
||||
|
Major Seminarians |
96 |
33 |
63 |
||||
|
Catechists |
74 |
44 |
30 |
||||
|
Schools |
433 |
93 |
340 |
||||
|
Charitable institutes |
301 |
41 |
260 |
||||
The new diocese will border to the North with the diocese of Baroda, to the East with the diocese of Nashik, to the West with the Arabian Sea and to the South with Thane Creek and the Archdiocese of Bombay. The entire territory is in the State of Maharashtra.
It will include nine "Taluks" of Thane civil district: Vasai, Bhiwandi, Shahapur, Wada, Jawahar, Palghar, Mokhada, Dahanu and Talasari. It should be noted that the remaining four Taluks, Thane, Kalyan, Murbad and Ulhasnagar will remain in the territory of the archdiocese of Bombay. The new Bishop will have his See at Papdy, Vasai where there is already the parish of Our Lady of Grace (founded in 1574) which will become the Cathedral.
Source: Fides, July 3, 1998
- CT
