From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Feb 14: The Bangalore Archdiocese, which has earned the unique distinction of being the 'Rome of the East', celebrated the platinum jubilee of its formation with solemn Eucharistic celebration with Archbishop Dr Bernard Moras as the main celebrant and almost all the Bishops of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council (KRCBC) as concelebrants and over a hundred priests and other religious sisters and a large number of the faithful at the St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on Friday.
The Eucharistic celebration was followed by a simple function, when the Archbishop released a most completely revised second edition of ‘’The Pastoral Handbook’’ and also announced the decision to set up two more commissions for looking after the spiritual needs of the migrants and the disabled, taking the total number of commissions in the Archdiocese to 20.
Incidentally, Archbishop Moras announced the official closing of the Year of Reconciliation programmes in the Archdiocese on the first Sunday of the Lent or on February 22.
A special message to Archbishop Moras from the Vatican, conveying cordial greetings from Pope Francis and also imparting Apostolic Blessings to the Archdiocese, all the priests, religious and lay faithful, was read out at the function.
Bishops Aloysius Paul D’Souza (Mangalore), Gerald Isaac Lobo (Udupi), Henry D’Souza (Bellary), Peter Machado (Belgaum) and Francis Serrao (Shimoga) were among the Bishops, who celebrated the thanksgiving mass along with Archbishop Moras.
The independent Bangalore Diocese was carved from the then Madurai mission on February 14, 1940 comprising the civil districts of Kolar, Chitradurga, Tumakuru and Bengaluru. Dr Mauric Bernard Benoit Joseph Despatures, an MEP Missionary from France, was appointed as the first Catholic Bishop. Dr Thomas Pothacamury was made the first native Bishop on October 15, 1942. The Diocese was elevated as an Archdiocese on September 19, 1953 and Most Rev Pothacamury was given the honour of being the first Archbishop of Bangalore.
Archbishop Pothacamury was succeeded by several eminent prelates Archbishop of D S Lourduswamy, Archbishop P Arokiaswamy, Archbishop Alphonsus Mathias and Archbishop Iganatius Pinto.
The present Archbishop Moras took over charge of the Archdiocese on September 17, 2004, when the Archdiocese comprised of the civil districts of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Ramanagara, Kolara and Tumkauru.
Under the dynamic leadership of Archbishop Moras, as many as 26 new parishes and 2 shrines and renovation of more than 50 churches and schools as also a degree college, 12 new pre-university colleges, 8 high schools, 4 new nursery schools and several other centres were established in different parts of the Archdiocese. In addition, social service organisations like ASHA Charitable Trust for the overall development of education helping over 3,000 students with financial assistance for furthering their studies and JeevanJyothi Trust for helping the terminally ill poor patients of the community were started.
The Archdiocese presently has 134 diocesan priests, 1,440 religious priests and 1,691 sisters working in 139 parishes and other diocesan institutions.