Eparchy of Sagar

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Eparchy of Sagar is an Eastern Catholic diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church in central India. It is a suffragan of the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Ujjain and follows the Syro-Malabar Rite. The cathedral is St. Theresa’s Cathedral in Sagar Cantonment (formerly St. Raphael’s Cathedral). The eparchy covers five civil districts in Madhya Pradesh: Sagar, Raisen, Vidisha, Guna and Ashoknagar, serving a small Catholic community within a largely Hindu region.

As of 2015, the eparchy ministered to about 3,443 Catholics (roughly 0.1% of the total population of about 5.3 million in the area). It has 44 parishes and 36 missions, with 79 priests (58 diocesan and 21 religious), 295 lay religious (29 brothers and 266 sisters), and 17 seminarians.

History and leadership:
- The area began as an apostolic exarchate on 29 July 1968, formed from territory taken from the Archdiocese of Bhopal. The district of Guna was added later, on 2 April 1973.
- On 26 February 1977, the Holy See raised the exarchate to the status of a diocese (eparchy).
- The first bishop was Clemens Thottungal CMI, followed by Joseph Pastor Neelankavil CMI. After Neelankavil’s retirement in 2006, Anthony Chirayath was appointed bishop. James Athikalam MST was ordained bishop of Sagar on 17 April 2018.
- The eparchy’s patron saint is St Thérèse of Lisieux.

Apostolates and social work:
The eparchy runs extensive social, medical, and educational programs through organizations such as the Sagar Diocesan Service Society (SDSS), Manav Vikas Seva Sangh (MVSS), St. Francis Society (SFS), and Pushpa Service Society (PSS). These efforts aim to support poor farmers and the broader community, reflecting the region’s developmental challenges and the Church’s commitment to service.