Roman Catholic Diocese of Darjeeling

The Diocese of Darjeeling is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in India. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Calcutta, yet depends on the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization. It includes within its territory the independent Himalayan country of Bhutan, where Christianity is practiced by a tiny minority and proselytism is forbidden.

The cathedral episcopal see is the Marian Immaculate Conception Cathedral, in Darjeeling, West Bengal state, India.

Statistics

New data from the Annuario Pontifico 2022 reveals as of 2021, it pastorally served 37,320 Catholics (2.4% of 1,535,370 total) on 9,521 km2 in 60 parishes and missions with 147 priests (83 diocesan, 64 religious), 384 lay religious (98 brothers, 286 sisters).^[1][2]

History

• Established on 15 February 1929 as Mission sui juris of Sikkim, on territories split off from Metropolitan Archdiocese of Calcutta and Apostolic Vicariate of Tatsienlu)
• Promoted on 16 June 1931 as Apostolic Prefecture of Sikkim
• Promoted on 8 August 1962 and renamed after ist see as Diocese of Darjeeling
• Lost territory on 14 June 1997 to establish the Diocese of Bagdogra.^[1]

Ordinaries

• Father Jules Elmire Douénel, Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) (born France) (19 February 1929 – 16 June 1931 see below)

• Father Jules Elmire Douénel, M.E.P. † (see above 19 February 1929 – retired 16 June 1931)
• Father Aurelio Gianora, C.R.S.M.A. † (d. 31 Dec 1995) (14 May 1937 – resigned 8 August 1962)

• Most Rev. Eric Benjamin (born India) (8 August 1962 – died 12 May 1994)
• Most Rev. Stephen Lepcha (born India) (14 June 1997 – Present)^[1]

Sources and external links

• GCatholic.org with incumbent bio links - data for all sections
• www.catholic-hierarchy.org - Statistics on the Diocese of Darjeeling

27°02′47″N 88°15′51″E / 27.0464°N 88.2643°E / 27.0464; 88.2643