Brief History of the Diocese of Adilabad

Adilabad diocese was under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Chanda until July 1999 when it was constituted as a new diocese by Pope John Paul II through the Papal Bull “ad aptius consulendum” dated 23-07-1999. The first bishop, Joseph Kunnath CMI was appointed by His Holiness through “Quoniam oportet” of the same date, and was consecrated on 06-10-1999 on which date the new diocese came in to existence. Bishop Joseph Kunnath resigned after turning 75 years of age, the canonical year of retirement of Bishops.

Bishop Prince Antony Panengadan was announced as second Bishop of Adilabad on 06-08-2015. Consecration and installation ceremony was held at St. Chavara Pastoral Centre, Thimmapur on 29-10-2015.

The eparchy has an area of 16210sq.kms which is located between 77 and 80 degrees of the Eastern longitudes and 18 and 19 degrees of the Northern latitudes. Its Southern boundary is the River Godavari, and East, West and North are the state of Maharastra. The contiguous dioceses are Chanda in the north and the East; Amaravathi in the West and Hyderabad and Warangal in the South. The CMI congregation started evangelisation work in this area in 1962 when the ordinariate of Chanda was established. Under the leadership of Bishop Januarius and his suceessor Bishop Vijay Anand of Chanda, communities were established in different parts, especially in interior villages of the district of Adilabad.

The history of Adilabad Diocese is inevitably linked with the history of Chanda Mission as it shares the common legacy and mission thrust. The blooming of the diocese is the fruit of the hard labour, strenuous efforts and sacrifices of the dedicated Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) Missionaries since 1962. The newly joined missionary priests vowed to join the heroic path of the pioneering missionaries.

Chanda Mission/Chanda 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 Archdiocese 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 Palathuruthy was appointed its first bishop. It comprises the civil districts of Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra state and Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh.

Catholic Diocese of Adilabad

In 1999, the territory of Diocese of Adilabad is same as that of the civil district of Adilabad (16,210 square kilometers) in Telangana. Pope John Paul II constituted it by his Bull ‘Ad Aptius Consulendum’, as an independent diocese on July 23, 1999. Most Rev Joseph Kunnath CMI, was appointed the first bishop and consecrated on October 6, 1999.

The CMI ( Carmelites of Mary Immaculate) Congregation started evangelization work in this area in 1962 when the Ordinariate of Chanda was established. Prior to 1962, there were only two centres in Adilabad, one at Sirpur Kagaznagar with a resident priest and the other at Bellampally with a priest, visiting from Archdiocese of Nagpur.

Now, Diocese of Adilabad comprises of four civil districts, namely, districts of Adilabad, Mancherial, Komaram Bheem and Nirmal. The territorial area of the diocese remains the same. The population in the four districts is 2.7 million people, spread over in more than 1750 villages which come under 69 Mandals across the total area of 16128 sq.kms.

This eparchy belongs to the Syro-Malabar Archiepiscopal Church outside the proper territory and a suffragan of the Province of Hyderabad of the Latin Church.