Ecclesiastical Details - Catholics India

Diocese of Ahmedabad

Rite:

Latin

Population:

9656498

Status:

Diocese

Catholics:

69267

Founded:

05-May-49

Diocesan Priests:

Total area:

14791 sq. km

Religious Priests:

Province:

Gandhinagar

Religious Sisters:

342

Region:

Western

Seminarians:

Patron:

Sacred Heart of Jesus & St. Francis Xavier

Languages:

Gujarati English Konkani Malayalam Tamil

Civil States:

Gujarat: Ahmedabad Anand and Nadiad

Contact Diocese Office :

Bishop's House P.O.Mirzapur Ahmedabad-380001 GUJARAT

Telephone 1:

079-25 62 41 05 / 25 63 19 42

Fax:

25 63 19 42

E-Mail Office:

adctam@gmail.com

Website:

Most Rev. Athanasius Rethna Swamy, Bishops of Ahmedabad

Name:

Most Rev. Athanasius Rethna Swamy

Designation:

Bishops

Canonical Possession:

2018

Telephone (P):

E-mail (P):

Other Present & Retired Ordinaries of the Diocese of Ahmedabad

Pilgrim Centres in theDiocese of Ahmedabad

Ecclesiastical Institutions

Social / Charitable Institutions / Care Centres

Educational Institutions

Parishes:

Hospitals:

Degree Colleges:

Major Seminaries:

Orphanages:

Technical Training Centres:

Minor Seminaries:

Special Schools:

High Schools:

Monastries:

Crèches:

Lower Primary Schools:

Convents:

Counselling Centres:

Presses & Media Centres:

Formation Houses:

Social Centres:

Professional Colleges:

Retreat Centres:

Dispensaries / Clinics:

Parallel Colleges:

Physically Challenged:

Higher Secondary :

Boarding Houses:

Upper Primary Schools:

HIV / AIDS Centres:

Nurseries/Pre-Primary :

De-addiction Centres:

Aged & Destitute:

History of the Diocese of Ahmedabad

The present Ahmedabad Diocese covers the entire area of the three civil districts of Ahmedabad, Anand and Nadiad. Areawise, Ahmedabad is the smallest of the four dioceses in Gujarat but with 63,962 Catholics Ahmedabad is the biggest diocese! Ahmedabad is also the oldest diocese in the state. Historically too the Ahmedabad diocese has great significance. The freedom struggle was directed from the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad which was the headquarters of Gandhiji for meeting the leaders of the freedom movement and the British officials till he started the Dandi March on March 12, 1930. Karamsad in Anand District which comes within the boundaries of the Ahmedabad diocese was also the birth place of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the iron man of India. The Ahmedabad Diocese has a long history. There are indications of Christians living at Khambhat and Ahmedabad from the beginning of the sixteenth century when the Portuguese arrived in Goa in 1510. All through the 19th century Catholics from outside the states have come and settled in several towns of Gujarat.

Ahmedabad city had a church from 1842 at Sabarmati. But the beginning of local Christians is traced to the baptism of 18 people at Mogri on December 11, 1893 by Fr Manuel Xavier Gomes, a diocesan priest from the Archdiocese of Bombay. A team of German and Swiss Jesuits followed Fr Gomes. Then came more diocesan priests followed by the Spanish Jesuits in 1922. In 1934 the entire area of Gujarat State north of the Mahi river including Kathiawad and Kutch became the independent Ahmedabad mission separated from Bombay Archdiocese, with an Ecclesiastical Superior in the person of Fr Joaquin Villallonga, SJ. There were only five mission stations in 1934 : Anand established in 1895, Vadtal in 1897, Karamsad in 1907, Nadiad in 1911 and Amod in 1914. The Daughters of the Cross (FC) were the first congregation of nuns to start work in Gujarat from 1898. Then came the Sisters of The Apostolic Carmel (AC) to work in Gujarat in January 1923. They opened their first school at Ahmedabad in 1929. In 1936 a local congregation of the Little Daughters of St Francis Xavier (LD) was founded by a Jesuit Priest, Fr Carlos Suria in collaboration with Sr Xavier. The steady growth of the Ahmedabad mission resulted in the establishment of the Ahmedabad Diocese on May 5, 1949 covering the entire Gujarat area north of the river Mahi much before the present Gujarat state was carved out of the Bombay state on May 1, 1960. The tenure of the first Bishop of Ahmedabad, Bishop Edwin Pinto, SJ (1949-73) was a period of consolidation of the Christian community and also the beginning of the expansion of the Church to north and south Gujarat. Meanwhile a second diocese in Gujarat was established on September 29, 1966 as Baroda diocese with the six districts in South Gujarat, south of Mahi river curved out of Bombay Archdiocese with Bishop Ignatius D'Souza as its first bishop.

In Ahmedabad diocese Bishop Charles Gomes, SJ succeeded Bishop Pinto in 1974 and he saw to the expansion of the Church of north and central Gujarat as well as to the growth of Church personnel especially diocesan priests and religious sisters. A new development took place in 1977 with the formation of the Rajkot Diocese under Bishop Jonas Thaliath, CMI as its first bishop. The new diocese was separated from the Ahmedabad Diocese, covering the entire area of Saurashtra and Kutch-Bhuj. Then, in 1990 Bishop Stanislaus Fernandes, SJ took up the reins from Bishop Gomes in Ahmedabad Diocese and saw to the further consolidation of the Christian communities in the north and central Gujarat. The steady growth of the Church then saw the establishment of the new Archdiocese of Gandhinagar headed by Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, SJ. The new archdiocese was separated from the Ahmedabad Diocese in November 2002. Bishop Thomas Ignas Macwan became the first local Catholic Bishop Ahmedabad Diocese in January 2003 indicating the coming of age of the Church in Gujarat. Mission & Vision We, the Christians in the Ahmedabad Diocese, like the Christians in all the dioceses around the world, strive to walk in the footsteps of our leader Jesus Christ and to proclaim to all people of good will his message of love and forgiveness as well as universal brotherhood and sisterhood. Jesus Christ went about doing good to all especially the poor, the neglected and the abandoned like the dalits, lepers, tax collectors and public sinners. We uphold the freedom guaranteed by our Constitution to profess, proclaim and propagate our Christian religion while stoutly defending the rights and freedom of all people to profess and practise the religion of their choice. With the universal church we abhors forced conversions and the use of foul means to convert or reconvert people from one religion to another. We believe in the religion of love founded by Christ. Education for Social Change The Ahmedabad Diocese believes and strives to prepare men and women for others through its formal and informal educational efforts. While striving for the all round progress of children through our education we aim to form our children into useful citizens for themselves and for others in this great country and beyond.

Prelates of the Diocese of Ahmedabad

Bishops Name	Prelate's Status	Period	Bishops Name	Prelate's Status	Period
	Bishop	1990-2002		Bishop	1974-1990
	Bishop	1949-1973