About Diocese

Pope John XXIII established the first Syro-Malabar Ordinariate of Chanda on 31 March 1962 with Msgr. Januarius Palathuruthy CMI as its first Ecclesiastical Superior with the faculties of Apostolic Exarch. It was carved out from the Archeparchy of Nagpur. The 'Ordinariate' was raised to the status of an Apostolic Exarchate on 29 July 1968 and Msgr Januarius was made its Apostolic Exarch. On 26 February 1977 Pope Paul VI raised it to the status of an Eparchy and Msgr. Januarius was appointed its first bishop. It comprises the civil districts of Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra state and Adilabad in Andra Pradesh. On 3 July 1990 Mar Vijay Anand Nedumpuram CMI succeeded Bishop Januarius as its second Bishop. On 28 March 1995 Bishop Januarius was called to his eternal rest. The civil district of Adilabad was bifurcated from the Eparchy of Chanda and the new Eparchy of Adilabad was established in 1999.After the retirement of Mar Vijayanand Nedumpuram, Fr Ephrem Nariculam was appointed the third bishop of Chanda on 31 July 2015 and was consecrated and installed on 24 October 2014.

Patron                          :           St. Thomas the Apostle

Area                             :           32,233 Sq.Kmts.

Total Population           :           39, 20,160

Catholics                      :          13,136

Families                       :           2710

Parishes                       :           9

Zones/Foranes             :           5

Mission stations            :          42

Diocesan Priests           :          43

Major Seminarians       :           27

Minor Seminarians       :           23

Languages                   :           Marathi, Hindi, Telugu & Tribal Languages

Civil Districts               :            Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Wardha

State                           :             Maharashtra