The Diocese of Rajkot stretches over the northwestern part of India, which is the peninsula of Saurashtra and Kutch; it has an area of 1, 09,990 sq. kms. and a population of 16 million. By the Papal Bull De Recta Fidelium of Pope Paul VI the Catholic Diocese of Rajkot came into being on 25 Feb, 1977. It comprises the civil districts of Amreli, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot and Surendranagar, jointly known popularly as Saurashtra and the district of Kutch in Gujarat State.
Faced with the shortage of priests the Jesuits invited the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first indigenous religious congregation for men in India, to work and develop this mission territory in Saurashtra and Kutch. In 1972 the then Superior General Rev. Fr Theobald Pothanikat CMI accepted the invitation and sent a few pioneering missionaries.
Read More