Latin-rite bishops prepare pastoral plan for India.
(April 25, 2012) The Latin-rite Bishops of India are conducting a national survey
to prepare a pastoral plan for the nation. Fr.Varghese Chakkalakal, CCBI’s Secretary
General of the Latin-rite Bishops Association, known as the Conference of the Catholic
Bishops of India – CCBI, said this plan would be a broad based outline with the direction
and priorities for the whole church in India with sufficient provisions for adaptation
by regions and dioceses as per the needs at the ground reality. The priest said
each diocese of India was given at least 20 copies of the questionnaire survey to
gauge the opinion and view of the clergy and the faithful on the identity and formation
of the Latin-rite Catholic Church in India. Based on the valuable information and
data obtained from the opinion-poll and other consultation, the CCBI would like to
prepare the pastoral plan for India. Fr. Chakkalakal said the final survey plans are
being currently discussed at the April 24-30 CCBI Executive meeting in Bangalore,
Karnataka State. The Catholic Church in India comprises three rites, the Latin-rite
which is the largest and the two eastern rites, the Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malankara
rite. Together they form the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, CBCI.