The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bagdogra ( la, Bagdogran(us)) is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

Latin

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in northeastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, yet it depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Its episcopal see is the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

of the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd ( el, ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 ...

in the city of

Bagdogra Bagdogra is a settlement in the Naxalbari CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the Greater Siliguri Metropolitan Area. The Bagdogra is well connected by air to six ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

History

* Established on 14 June 1997 as Diocese of Bagdogra, on territory split off from the

Diocese of Darjeeling The Diocese of Darjeeling is a Latin Roman Catholic suffragan diocese situated in the north east of India, in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Calcutta, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Ev ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 55,543 Catholics (5.4% of 1,020,000 total) on 1,200 km² in 19 parishes and 55 missions with 64 priests (29 diocesan, 35 religious), 211 lay religious (46 brothers, 165 sisters) and 14 seminarians.

Episcopal ordinaries

(all

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

) http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/bagd0.htm GCatholic.org ;''Suffragan Bishops of Bagdogra'' * Thomas D’Souza (born Idia) (14 June 1997 – 12 March 2011 ''see below''), next

Coadjutor Archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

of Calcutta (India) (2011.03.12 – 2012.02.23), succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of

(2012.02.23 – ...) *

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

Thomas D’Souza (''see above'' 2011.03.12 – 2015.04.07) * Vincent Aind (born India) (7 April 2015 – ...), no previous prelature.

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with Google satellite photo - data for all sections

Catholic Hierarchy
Roman Catholic dioceses in India

Christianity in West Bengal Christianity in West Bengal, India, is a minority religion. According to the 2011 census of India, there were 658,618 Christians in West Bengal, or 0.72% of the population. Although Mother Teresa worked in Kolkata (Calcutta), Christianity is ...

Darjeeling district Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters. Kurseon ...

Religious organizations established in 1997 Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century

{{India-RC-diocese-stub

History

Statistics

Episcopal ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links