Roman Catholic Diocese of Kandy
Diocese of Kandy Dioecesis Kandiensis கண்டி மாவட்ட | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country | Roman Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of St Anthony in Kandy |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Valence Mendis |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Malcolm Ranjith |
| Vicar General | Very Rev. Fr.Alvin Peter Fernando |
| Judicial Vicar | Rev. Fr.Colvin Fernandopulle |
| Bishops emeritus | Joseph Vianney Fernando |
| Website | |
| Website of the Diocese | |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kandy (Lat: Dioecesis Kandiensis) is a
Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
.
The episcopal seat is St. Anthony’s Cathedral, in Kandy. The current bishop is Valence Mendis, appointed in 2021.
Statistics
As per 2014, it pastorally served 81,293 Catholics (3.2% of 2,578,000 total) on 5,733 km2 in 27 parishes and 2 missions with 51 priests (39 diocesan, 12 religious), 329 lay religious (149 brothers, 180 sisters) and 15 seminarians.
History
- Originally erected on 20 April 1883 as the Archdiocese of Colombo, now its Metropolitan)
- Promoted to Diocese of Kandy on 1 September 1886, as a suffragan of the simultaneously elevated Archdiocese of Colombo.
- On 18 December 1972, part of the diocese was split off to form the Diocese of Badulla.
Episcopal ordinaries
- Apostolic Vicars of Kandy
- Clemente Pagnani, Colombo(Sri Lanka) (1879.11.12 – 1883.04.20)
- Bishops of Kandy
- Clemente Pagnani, O.S.B.Silv. (1 September 1886 - death June 1911)
- Bede Beekmeyer, O.S.B.Silv. (19 April 1912 - death 22 May 1935)
- Bernardo Regno, O.S.B.Silv. (27 January 1936 - retired 24 September 1958), stayed on a while as Apostolic Administrator of Kandy (1958.09.24 – 1959.07.02), during emeritate as Titular Bishop of Bagai(1958.09.24 – 1971.01.26), died 1977
- Leo Nanayakkara, O.S.B.Silv. (2 July 1959 - 18 December 1972), next Bishop of Badulla (1972.12.18 – death 1982.05.28)
- Appasinghe Paul Perera (17 May 1973 - death 16 May 1989)
- Joseph Vianney Fernando (17 March 1983 - 9 October 2021), also President of Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (1995 – 1998 and 2004.04 – 2010.04)
- Valence Mendis (9 October 2021 – present)