NACOYA, PREFETTURA APOSTOLICA DI

NACOYA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF — In the ecclesiastical regions of Vizagapatam, Hyderabad, Poona, Indore, Jabalpur, Ranchi, Calcutta and Cuttack. It is entrusted to the missionaries of Annecy and has an area of 91,070 sq. km. and about 15 million inhabitants, of whom only 35,000 are Catholics, 25,000 Protestants, 350,000 Mohammedans and the rest Hindus. Ecclesiastically the diocese is divided into 4 districts or rural vicariates: there are 21 parishes, 1 primary station, 15 secondary stations, 6 churches, 35 chapels. The clergy consists of 26 secular Indian priests and 25 of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis of Annecy, 13 of whom are Indians with 6 scholastics and 13 lay brothers. There is a major seminary and a preparatory school. About 200 nuns and 85 male teachers and 171 female teachers who teach in 24 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, 7 high schools, 3 vocational schools, 1 normal school. There are 13 dispensaries; 13 orphanages, 3 asylums and a leper hospital. The diocese owns 2 printing presses, which produce the Salesian, a monthly magazine, and the Apostolic School Bulletin, an annual publication, each with a circulation of 350 copies. There are numerous sodalities, pious associations and Catholic Action groups.