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On 21 August 2007, by his
decree Prot. No. 673/2007,
Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil,
the Major Archbishop of
the Syro-Malabar Church
erected the eparchy of BHADRAVATHI,
carving out the entire civil
district of Shimoga from
the territory of the diocese
of Mananthavady. Because
of the great distance from
the diocesan headquarters,
the geographical, linguistic
and cultural differences
and the differences in the
nature of the apostolate
undertaken, a bifurcation
of the diocese of Mananthavady
was felt to be a genuine
necessity and an urgent
need to ensure further growth
and development of the various
regions that constitute
the territory of the diocese
of Mananthavady. With this
in view, successive Synods
discussed the proposal of
the Bishops of the diocese
of Mananthavady and the
XIV Synod (2006), Session
1 gave its approval for
the proposal of the division
of the diocese and the erection
of a new diocese by name
Bhadravathi. The Holy See,
through its letter dated
25 January 2007, Prot. No.
24/98 gave its assent to
the above proposal. Both
the new diocese and its
bishop shall be subject
as suffragans to the Metropolitan
See of Tellicherry and its
Metropolitan. The newly
erected diocese of Bhadravathi
has an area of 10,553 sq.kms
with a total population
of 16,39,595 of which around
7000 are Catholics. There
are 21 parishes and mission
stations looked after by
20 priests belonging to
the MCBS Congregation. There
are 59 religious sisters
belonging to 6 religious
congregations in 14 convents
doing ministry through 5
High Schools, 6 Upper Primary
Schools, 12 Nursery Schools,
22 Dispensaries, 10 Student
Hostels, 10 Tailoring Schools,
and 12 Village Clinics.
The official inauguration
of the eparchy of Bhadravathi
took place on 25 October
2007 with the ordination
and enthronement of the
Bishop, Mar Joseph Arumachadath,
MCBS. The Synod of Bishops
of the Syro-Malabar Church
held from 11 to 15 January
2010 at Mount St Thomas
gave its consent to the
proposal of transferring
the civil district of Chickmagalur
from the eparchy of Mananthavady
to the eparchy of Bhadravathi.
With the prior assent of
the Holy See, on 18 January
2010, the Major Archbishop
decreed the transfer of
the civil district of Chickmagalur
to the eparchy of Bhadravathi
and thus extended the territory
of the eparchy of Bhadravathi
to include also the civil
district of Chickmagalur.
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