CCBI Inaugurates New Secretariat in Bhopal
Bhopal (CCBI): The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CCBI) inaugurated a new Secretariat for its Commission for Proclamation at the Seva Sadan building in Tulsi Nagar, Bhopal, on July 16, 2024. The new office replaces the previous Secretariat located in Pachmarhi, Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh.
Abp. Sebastian Durairaj, Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation and Archbishop of Bhopal, blessed and inaugurated the new Secretariat on the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16, 2024. The ceremony was attended by Rev. Dr Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of the CCBI, and Rev. Dr Ambrose Pitchaimuthu, Executive Secretary of the Commission for Proclamation and Director of Pontifical Mission Organisations. Fr. Raju Mathew, Associate Executive Secretary of the Commission for Proclamation, will now operate from the new Bhopal office.
The CCBI established the Commission for Proclamation in 1988, with Bishop Patrick D’Souza of Varanasi as the first Chairman. Later, when Bishop Isidore Fernandes was the Chairman and Fr Vijay Shantiraj was the Executive Secretary of the Commission, the CCBI Office Bearers, led
by Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, decided to open the Secretariat for Proclamation in Pachmarhi. This decision was facilitated by the Diocese of Allahabad, which provided the land and building. Suvrata Kendra was blessed and inaugurated on October 18, 2011.
However, during the CCBI’s 92nd Executive Committee meeting on September 21-22, 2023, it was decided to relocate the Secretariat to Bhopal due to better connectivity options. Bhopal offers excellent air, rail, and road connections, in contrast to Pachmarhi, a hill station at 1,067 meters elevation in the Satpura hills, which has limited access via road and the nearest railway station is in Pipariya.
On July 14, 2024, the CCBI officially handed over the Pachmarhi property to the Diocese of Allahabad. The ceremony, held at Suvrata Kendra in Pachmarhi, was attended by Abp. Sebastian Durairaj, Bp. Louis Mascarenhas of Allahabad, Fr Stephen Alathara, Fr Ambrose
Pitchaimuthu, Fr Anil Abreo, and Fr Raju Mathew.
Fr. Anil Abreo has been appointed as the Director of the Sangit Sadana Mandir in Pachmarhi by the Diocese of Allahabad and took charge on July 15, 2024. Previously, from 2011 to 2024, Fr Vijay Shantiraj of Varanasi, Fr Paneer Selvam of Salem, and Fr Raju Mathew of Jabhua served as directors of Suvrata Kendra and Sangit Sadhana Mandir, appointed by the CCBI. Currently, the CCBI has secretariats in Delhi, Bangalore, Goa and Bhopal.
