Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Gwalior, 1999
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has created (February 9th 1999) the diocese of Gwalior (India) with territory taken from the diocese of Jhansi, making it suffragan of the metropolitan Church of Bhopal.
The new diocese of Gwalior will include the following civil districts until now in the diocese of Jhansi in the state of Madhya Pradesh: Bhind, Datia, Gwalior, Morena, Sheopur and Shivpuri.
The reasons for the creation of the new diocese are as follows:
- good prospects for evangelization among Tribals
- the vast extension of the mother-diocese does not favour adequate development, not to mention complications due to dependence on two civil administrations, the States of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
- it will be easier for the bishop to visit villages to encourage the people in the faith.
Here are the statistics of the new diocese and the mother-diocese:
| JHANSI-before | GWALIOR | JHANSI today | |
area |
63,001 sq km |
33,584 sq km |
29,417 sq km |
population |
12, 575,907 |
5,866,723 |
6,709,184 |
Catholics |
7,005 |
2,188 |
4,817 |
parishes |
35 |
16 |
19 |
priests (diocesan) |
55 |
20 |
35 |
priests (religious) |
8 |
7 |
1 |
Brothers |
15 |
0 |
15 |
Sisters |
197 |
45 |
152 |
Major seminarians |
23 |
||
schools |
38 |
13 |
25 |
Charitable institutes |
25 |
9 |
16 |
The diocese will border to the west with the dioceses of Ajmer and Jaipur, to the east with the mother diocese of Jhansi, to the north with the archdiocese of Agra and to the south with the archdiocese of Bhopal and the Eparchy of Sagar.
Source: Fides, December 12th, 1999
- CT