BEZWADA, DIOCESE of. — In India, suffragan to Madras, it comprises the civil districts of Kistna and western Godaveri, together with three districts of eastern Godaveri. The population is 3,500,000 inhabitants, all of Dravidian stock, of whom 30 percent are pariahs; the predominant language is Telugu. Nine-tenths profess Hinduism.
The mission was established in 1933 through separation from the diocese of Hyderabad (Deccan), following the development of the apostolate in that region. As its success continued, it was elevated to a diocese on 13 April 1937. Like Hyderabad, the new mission is administered by the priests of the Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan. The Catholics, numbering 23,000 at the mission’s foundation, rose to 38,000 in 1939 and currently (according to the latest report, from 1943) number 41,543. There are numerous educational works (industrial, teacher-training, secondary, and elementary schools), charitable works (a maternity hospital, orphanages, dispensaries), and social works (a provident fund for catechists, rural credit unions for pariahs, etc.); Catholic Action is vigorous (Scouting groups, annual collective district celebrations, conferences of village headmen, catechetical competitions, and a monthly newspaper).
The mission is assisted by the Sisters of S. Anna of Turin, by the Sisters of the same name from Lucerne, and by two indigenous congregations: the indigenous catechists of S. Anna and those of Maria Bambina, with a total of about sixty sisters. The catechists number more than 200. The total school population is 7041 children.
The difficulties facing the mission are represented by the intense Protestant propaganda (there are “missions” of every denomination), by communism, which is widespread in some areas, and by Indian nationalism, which is not well disposed toward Christian proselytism.