The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyay (Lat: ''Diocesis Pyayensis'') 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 ...

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 ...

of the

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 ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, 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 ...

of the Metropolitan

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yangon The Archdiocese of Yangon ( la, Archidioecesis Yangonensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Myanmar. Charles Bo, SDB was appointed Archbishop of Yangon by Pope John Paul II on May 24, 2003. Histo ...

(Rangoon), but like that depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Its

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 ...

episcopal see is

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

’s Cathedral, in

Pyay Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Aye ...

Bago Region Bago Region ( my, ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 25,810 Catholics (0.3% of 9,889,000 total) on 80,938 km² in 20 parishes and 1 mission with 40 priests (39 diocesan, 1 religious), 110 lay religious (5 brothers, 105 sisters) and 13 seminarians.

History

Originally erected on 9 July 1940 as the

Apostolic prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Akyab, the pre-diocese has the distinction of being the only ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Burma created from the Diocese of Chittagong (in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, now Metropolitan; by La Salette Fathers (M.S.) mission). On 19 September 1957, its name was changed to the Apostolic prefecture of Prome. On 21 February 1961, the prefecture was elevated to a full bishopric as Diocese of Prome. Finally on 8 October 1991, the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Pyay and became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Yangon The resignation for health reasons of Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Taik Maung, appointed in 1991, who was serving as Apostolic Administrator, was accepted by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

on Friday, July 16, 2010. On Friday, December 3, 2010,

accepted the resignation of Bishop

Joseph Devellerez Thaung Shwe Joseph Devellerez Thaung Shwe (10 October 1935 – 17 February 2015) was a Burmese Roman Catholic bishop. Born in Twante and ordained to the priesthood in 1961, Devellerez Thaung Shwe was named bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyay, Burma ...

as Bishop and appointed Burmese priest

Alexander Pyone Cho Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, a native of the Pyay Diocese (on loan "

fidei donum This is a list of encyclicals of Pope Pius XII. Pius XII promulgated 41 papal encyclicals, during his reign as pope for over 19 years, from his election of March 2, 1939, until his death on October 9, 1958. The 41 encyclicals of Pius XII exceed ...

" to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina The Diocese of Salina ( la, Dioecesis Salinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church covering thirty-one counties in Kansas. The counties included in this diocese are Cheyenne, Sherman, Wallace, Logan, Tho ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, USA), as Bishop of Pyay.

Ordinaries

(all

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

, till 2010 foreign members of a Latin missionary congregation) ;''Apostolic Prefect of Akyab'' *

Thomas Albert Newman Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

M.S MS, ms, Ms, M.S., etc. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ms.'' (magazine), an American feminist magazine * Metal Storm (webzine), a heavy metal website based in Estonia Businesses and organizations * MS-13, criminal gang * Missionaries ...

† (12 July 1940 - 2 October 1975 resigned ''see below'') born USA ;''Apostolic Prefect of Prome'' * Thomas Albert Newman, M.S. † (''see above'' 2 October 1975 - 1961.02.21 ''see below'') ;''Suffragan Bishops of Prome'' * Thomas Albert Newman, M.S. † (''see above'' 1961.02.21 - resigned 1975), died 1978 *

(2 October 1975 - 3 December 2010 resigned), died 2015 ** Auxiliary Bishop

Gregory Taik Maung Gregory may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gregory (surname), a surname Places Australia *Gregory, Queensland, a town in the Shire of ...

(1984.11.08 – 2010.07.16 ) *''

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 ...

''sede plena'' the above Gregory Taik Maung (1991 – 2010.07.16 resigned because of ill health); the diocese was overseen from July 2010 to December 2010 by a neighboring Archbishop *

(3 December 2010 - ... ), no previous prelature.

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyay, Roman Catholic diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in Burma

Religious organizations established in 1940 Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, tra ...

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century

Statistics

History

Ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links