About Us

The Bastar division was part of the Diocese of Mylapore till 1806. Then it was included in the Vicariate Apostolic of Madras. In 1845, Bastar became a part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Vishakhapatnam. On 15 August 1966, this region was added to the Prefecture Apostolic of Raipur. The Pilar Fathers (SFX) were entrusted with the missionary activities in this area. They gave a good start by establishing a school at Kirandul and a social welfare centre at Jagdalpur to help the people.

On 23 March 1972, Jagdalpur was made an exarchate and was entrusted to the St. Joseph's Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). Monsignor Paulinus Jeerakath CMI was made the exarch. On 26 February 1977 Pope Paul VI elevated the exarchate of Jagdalpur to the rank of an eparchy and Mar Paulinus Jeerakath CMI was appointed its first bishop. He was ordained on 11 May 1977.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The motto of Mar Paulinus was “nirbhikta se samartya se” meaning “without fear and with all strength”. All his actions, decisions and thoughts reflected this ideology. During the 18 years of his episcopate, Mar Paulinus was able to establish a centre or an institution in all major towns, namely, at Bijapur, Sukma, Geedam, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, and Bhanupratappur. Mar Paulinus laid a strong foundation for the Church in Bastar. A major contribution of Mar Paulinus was establishing balbhavans for the education of poor children. He drew inspiration from the vision of St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara. Mar Paulinus founded Deen Bandhu Samaj (DBS), Congregation of the Friends of the Poor, a congregation for consecrated women to imitate Christ, the friend of the poor. One of the obstacles of the mission in Bastar was a lack of infrastructure. There were no roads, school buildings, health care facilities, transport means, communication means, etc. The missionaries had to travel by bullock carts. Mar Paulinus asked his missionaries to construct roads in the villages with the help of the food for work programme. He encouraged missionaries to devote more resources to improve the
productivity of the farm sector. Though there was scarcity of personnel and money, several schools, old age homes, a Cathedral church, grihini schools for adult women, etc. were established during the tenure of Mar Paulinus. On 6 August 1990, Mar Paulinus Jeerakath was called to eternal rest. Then, Fr. Kurian Macheril CMI was elected the administrator of the eparchy. His term lasted for two years and seven months. Fr. Kurian Macheril was a great administrator and it was during his period the financial condition of the eparchy got improved.

On 28 January 1993, Mar Simon Stock Palathra CMI was appointed the second bishop of the eparchy and was ordained on 19 March 1993. Mar Simon Stock Palathra CMI was a man of simplicity and missionary zeal. His motto was “for God and his people”. Mar Simon Stock Palathra contributed
to the growth of the eparchy tremendously. MPM Hospital, Jagdalpur, was established in 1997 for the health care of the people of this remote area. Diocesan minor seminaries were established at Parpa in 1998 and at Kondagaon in 2000. To coordinate the pastoral and evangelization ministries of the eparchy, the Good Shepherd Pastoral Centre was established at Aghanpur in 2009.

Mission stations at Chottebettia, Kutni, Junawar, Boregaon, Charama, Bandam, Mardum, Palnar, and Bhairamgarh were opened in his period. He invited several institutes of consecrated life to work in the Eparchy of Jagdalpur.

On 16 July 2013, Mar Joseph Kollamparampil CMI was appointed as the third Bishop of Jagdalpur and was ordained on 17 September 2013. His motto is "I come to do your will". Reflecting this motto, from the beginning of his episcopate, he has been encouraging the pastoral and missionary undertakings. Under the leadership of Mar Joseph Kollamparampil CMI, the missionary activities of the Eparchy of Jagdalpur are reaching out to the peripheries. His vision is to bring education to all the people of Bastar. During the first three years of his episcopate, schools were opened at Karitgaon, Chindgarh, Dewda, Kodagaon, Bijapur, and Umergaon. Perpetual adoration centres were opened at Jagdalpur, Kondagaon and Bacheli.