A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF HYDERABAD

The Diocese of Hyderabad was created by the Bulla “Eius in Terris”, dated April 28, 1958, and officially erected on August 23, 1958.

The territory was carved out of the Archdiocese of Karachi. A sizable part of Baluchistan Province, including the main City of Quetta as its center and the whole of the Province of Sindh except Kotri, Larkana, and Dadu Districts, constituted the new Diocese of Hyderabad. On November 9, 2001, Pope John Paul II through the Pontifical Bull “Ad perpetuam rei memoriam” raised Quetta with the whole of Balucistan to the status of an Apostolic Prefecture and the Very Rev. Fr. Victor Gnanapragassam OMI took charge as Apostolic Prefect on April 7, 2002.

So far, the Catholic Diocese of Hyderabad has had four Ordinaries. The first, the Most Rev. Alcuin Van Miltenburg who was the Archbishop of Karachi was transferred to the new Diocese of Hyderabad as its first Bishop. The Most Rev. Bishop Bonaventure P Paul worthily succeeded him in 1971. The then young and active Bishop Joseph Coutts remained Bishop of the Diocese from 1990 to 1998. He was transferred as Bishop of Faisalabad Diocese in 1998. The Most Rev. Bishop Max J. Rodrigues took over the diocese from the then Administrator, Rev. Fr. Anjou Soares, who administered the Diocese from 30th September 1998 till the handing over on 9th April 2000. Most Rev. Bishop Samson Shukardin OFM was Nominated Bishop on 16-12-2014, Ordained Bishop and took over on 31 January 2015.

When erected, the Diocese did not have a single diocesan priest. Thanks to the great efforts of the missionaries from various Congregations and Societies, who worked hard to build the Local Church, today there are 12 diocesan priests.

The Catholic Diocese of Hyderabad has worked with great love and fervor for the freedom, uplift, and progress of the various depressed and marginalized tribal peoples in Sindh. It has the biggest tribal apostolate in the Country.

STATISTICS OF THE DIOCESE OF HYDERABAD

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