The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyay (Lat: ''Diocesis Pyayensis'') is a suffragan

diocese In 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 provinces were administratively associa ...

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 in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

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 denominatio ...

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, Bago 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 soverei ...

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

accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph Devellerez Thaung Shwe as Bishop and appointed Burmese priest Alexander Pyone Cho, a native of the Pyay Diocese (on loan " fidei donum" 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 th ...

, USA), as Bishop of Pyay.

Ordinaries

(all Roman Rite, till 2010 foreign members of a Latin missionary congregation) ;''Apostolic Prefect of Akyab'' * Thomas Albert Newman, M.S † (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 * Joseph Devellerez Thaung Shwe (2 October 1975 - 3 December 2010 resigned), died 2015 ** Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Taik Maung (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 adm ...

''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 * Alexander Pyone Cho (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 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century

Statistics

History

Ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links