Diocese of Batticaloa
Batticaloaën(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Latin diocese on the east coast of Sri Lanka, created on 3 July 2012 from the Diocese of Trincomalee-Batticaloa, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Colombo. Its cathedral is St. Mary's Cathedral in Batticaloa; the see is currently administered by Apostolic Administrator Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam following Bishop Joseph Ponniah's tenure (2012-2024).
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 3 July 2012
- Latin
- Batticaloaën(sis)
- Annuario code
- 001000857
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 55,225
- Population
- 1,199,966
- Catholic share
- 4.6%
- Extent
- 7,269 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 7.6
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Joseph Ponniah
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
St. Mary's Cathedral, Batticaloa stands in Batticaloa, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Colombo
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Colombo.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of AnuradhapuraAnuradhapura
- Diocese of BadullaBadulla
- Diocese of ChilawChilaw
- Diocese of GalleGalle
- Diocese of JaffnaJaffna
- Diocese of KandyKandy
- Diocese of KurunegalaKurunegala
- Diocese of MannarMannar
- Diocese of RatnapuraRatnapura
- Diocese of TrincomaleeTrincomalee
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
South-eastern Sri Lanka is served by the Diocese of Batticaloa (Latin: Dioecesis Batticaloaensis, Tamil: மட்டக்களப்பு மறைமாவட்டம்), a jurisdiction of the Latin Catholic Church.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Bishop’s House, P.O. Box 43, Batticaloa 30000, Sri Lanka
- Telephone
- [065]2222.723; fax 2224.667
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it, are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].