Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo

Archdiocese of Colombo Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane கொழும்பு உயர்மறை
St. Lucia's Cathedral in Kotahena.
Location
Country	Sri Lanka
Ecclesiastical province	Colombo
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 5,692,004 700,000 (12.3%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Cathedral	St. Lucia's Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Joseph Vaz, Our Lady of Lanka, Our Lady of Madhu, St. Thomas the Apostle
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Malcolm Ranjith
Auxiliary Bishops	Fidelis Fernando Vincent Peiris Sampathawaduge Maxwell Grenville Silva
Emeritus Bishops	Nicholas Marcus Fernando Archbishop Emeritus (1977-2002) Oswald Gomis Archbishop Emeritus (2002-2009)
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo (Latin: Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. It was erected as the Diocese of Ceylon from Diocese of Cochin by Pope Gregory XVI on December 3, 1834, and renamed as the Diocese of Colombo on February 17, 1845. Pope Leo XIII elevated it to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese on September 1, 1886, with the suffragan sees of Anuradhapura, Badulla, Chilaw, Galle, Jaffna, Kandy, Kurunegala, Mannar, Ratnapura, and Trincomalee-Batticaloa.

Its name was changed by Pope Pius XII to the Archdiocese of Colombo in Ceylon on December 6, 1944, but was returned to simply the Archdiocese of Colombo on May 22, 1972 by Pope Paul VI. It is the only archdiocese in Sri Lanka.

The archdiocese's motherchurch and thus seat of its archbishop is St. Lucia’s Cathedral; it also contains the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka in Tewatta and St. Anthony's National Shrine in Kochchikade. The current Archbishop of Colombo, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 June 2009, is Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. He is assisted in this role by the auxiliary bishops.

List of bishops and archbishops of Colombo

• Hilarion Silani (1863 - 1879)
• Clemente Pagnani, OSB (1879 - 1883)
• Christophe-Etienne Bonjean, OMI (1883 - 1892)
• André-Théophile Mélizan, OMI (1893 - 1905)
• Antoine Coudert, OMI (1905 - 1929)
• Pierre-Guillaume Marque, OMI (1929 - 1937)
• Jean-Marie Masson, OMI (1938 - 1947)
• Thomas Cooray, OMI (1947 - 1976)
• Nicholas Fernando (1977 - 2002)
• Oswald Gomis (2002 - 2009)
• Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (2009–present)

St. Theresa's Church Colombo

The Church of the St. Theresa's is a Roman Catholic church, located at Thimbirigasyaya Road Colombo, Sri Lanka. The current parish priest is Rev. Fr. Neil Dias Karunarathne C.Ss.R..

History

It was the year 1937, Mrs. Dias was made a proposal to Fr. Giwdan, the parish priest of Bambalapitiya to lay a foundation for a Catholic church. Bishop has given his permission and as a result the temporary structure was built and dedicated to St. Theresa. In cause of time the catholic community of the area was fairly large and Fr. James has initiated a process in 1934 to construct the existing church.

It was the year 1951, the first step was taken to construct the church and in 1952 archbishop Thomas Corey has handed over the church to Dominican fathers.

The Church was completed and consecrated on 7 October 1961 by the archbishop Thomas Cooray.

List of Churches in the Archdiocese

• St. Thomas' Church, Kotte
• All Saints' Church, Borella
• St. Mary's Church, Maharagama
• Sacred Heart Church, Rajagiriya
• Holy Rosary Church, Slave Island, Colombo-02
• St. Philip Neri's Church, Pettah, Colombo-12
• St. Anthony's Church, Kollupitiya, Colombo-03
• St. Mary's Church. Bambalapitiya, Colombo-04
• St. Lawrence's Church, Wellawatte, Colombo-06
• Fatima Church, Maradana

External links

• Official site
• Catholic-Hierarchy
• GCatholic.org
• Church official website

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Sri Lanka
• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Sri Lanka
• St Theresa's Church Colombo