Chairman
Most Rev. Sebastian Durairaj, S.V.D.
Archbishop of Bhopal
Archbishop’s House
33, Ahmedabad Palace Road
Bhopal – 462b 001, Madhya Pradesh, India
Phone: 0755 – 4930424
Email: archdiocebpl@gmail.com
Executive Secretary
Rev. Dr. Ambrose Pitchaimuthu
Post Box No.4216, No.10, 3rd Cross, Ulsoor Road,
Bengaluru – 560 042, Karnataka, India
Tel. : 080-41468634, 25585946
Mobile : 9444306664
E-mail : pmorgbindia@gmail.com
Website : www.pmoinindia.org
Associate Executive Secretary
Rev. Fr. Raju Mathew
Seva Sadan – Centre for Animation
1250 Quarters, Tulsi Nagar, Bhopal 462003
Madhya Pradesh, India
Mob: +91 9443094997
Email: proclamation@ccbi.in
Website: www.kjp2033.com
Member
Most Rev. Francis Kalist
Archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore
Archbishop’s House, 206, Catherdal Street
Pondicherry – 605 001, Tamil Nadu, India.
Phone: 0413 – 2334748, 233991
Email: dioceseofpondy@gmail.com
Member
Most Rev. Emmanuel Kerketta
Bishop of Jashpur
Bishop’s House, Kunkuri
P. O. Kunkuri – 496 225
District Jashpur, Chattisgarh, India
Tel : 7693921911, 7999644459
Email (O) : bishop_jashpur@rediffmail.com
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1. Description about the Commission
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ commands us all to go and proclaim the Good News (Mk.16:15). Thus Proclamation becomes duty and obligation of all the baptized. This is supposed to be the nature of all the members of the Church. So if one does not proclaim the Good News about Jesus Christ, he or she cannot be called Christian. Indian Constitution says every citizen has the right to profess one’s faith. It is the right of every one to hear about the joy of encountering Jesus. In order to animate and form all to do this indispensable task, the Commission for Proclamation has been started by CCBI in India. This Commission focuses on sharing the Good News which is Jesus, to all, with new zeal, new methods and new expressions.
2. Vision
To reach out to all the people of every language and culture in India through the loving service of missionary disciples, giving them the dignity of experiencing the joy of encountering the Risen Lord Jesus, the source of true love.
3. Mission
To motivate, to form and to coordinate the missionary disciples who would commit to the cause of sharing the joy of the Gospel with others fulfilling the directives in the Pastoral Plan for the Church in India with the vision of New Evangelization.
4. Objectives
To promote New Evangelization in the Church in India
To form trainers of the formatters of missionaries
To network with missionaries and missionary centers in India
To support Regional and Diocesan Secretaries to form and strengthen the mission teams and New Evangelization Centers
To encourage lay missionaries in India
To publish articles, books, DVDs as support material for Proclamation of the Good News
To put into action the concrete directives given by CCBI in the Pastoral Plan for the Church in India (Nos. 19, 20, 21, 30)
5. History of the Commission
The CCBI was born in 1988, and the Commission for Proclamation was also with it. But the Commission has been in full swing since the start of the third millennium after the celebration of the Great Jubilee 2000, under the leadership of Most Rev. Patrick D’Souza, Bishop of Varanasi, as its Chairman and Rev. Fr. Satyanand IMS, the then Superior General of the IMS Congregation, as its part-time Executive Secretary.
In 2006, Rev. Fr. Vijay Shantiraj of Varanasi Diocese was appointed as full-time Executive Secretary, who planned the formation of regional secretaries in collaboration with the International School of Evangelization, Rome. In 2009, the first ever Indian Mission Congress was successfully organised in Mumbai, which was followed by more than 55 mission congresses in many dioceses and congregations.
As a result of the Mission Congress and the felt need for the consistent formation of priests, religious, and laity in New Evangelization, Suvarta Kendra, CCBI School of New Evangelization, was founded by the CCBI under the leadership of Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, then the President of the CCBI. Bp. Isidore Fernandes of Allahabad was the chairman, and Fr. Vijay Shantiraj was the then-executive secretary of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation. It was inaugurated on October 18, 2011 at Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh.
6. Suvarta Kendra: National Centre for New Evangelization
A request was made by the Commission to the Office Bearers of the CCBI to start a National Centre for Proclamation in India at Pachmarhi, Hosangabad District, Madhya Pradesh, for training laity, catechists, religious, and priests to do the ministry of proclamation more effectively in today’s context. The proposal was made to start the centre in Madhya Pradesh because Madhya Pradesh is located in Central India, where all dioceses are easily accessible and reachable.
The 59th Executive Committee meeting of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) has approved the starting of the National Centre for Proclamation and has decided that the CCBI would be the legal holder, and the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation would be the Director of the Centre and would function under the guidance of the Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation. During the Plenary Meeting of the CCBI in January 2011, the General Body of the CCBI approved the starting of the National Centre for Proclamation by the CCBI Commission for Proclamation.
Since October 18, 2011, the Commission has been functioning from the National Centre for Proclamation in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. Then onwards, more than 100 animation and formation programmes, both residential and outreach, have been conducted by the Suvarta Team.
In 2022, the CCBI merged the Pontifical Mission Organisations (PMO) and Proclamation Commission and appointed Fr. Ambrose Pitchaimuthu, the director of PMS India, as the Executive Secretary of the Commission, and Fr. Raju Mathew of Jabhua Diocese as the Associate Executive Secretary and the Director of Suvarta Kendra, Pachmarhi.
In 2023, the 92nd Executive Committee decided to relocate the Suvarta Kendra to Bhopal. The new office in the Seva Sadan building in Bhopal was inaugurated on July 16, 2024, by Abp. Sebastian Durairaj in the presence of Fr Stephen Alathara, Fr Ambrose Pitchaimuthu, and Fr Raju Mathew.
The CCBI officially closed Suvarta Kendra in Pachmarhi on July 14, 2024, and handed over the building and property to the Allahabad diocese. The handover ceremony took place in Suvarta Kendra, Pachmarhi, on July 14, 2024, in the presence of Apb. Sebastian Durairaj, Bp. Louis Mascarenhas, Fr. Ambrose Pitchaimuthu, Fr. Raju Mathew, and Fr. Anil Abreo.
7. Former Chairmen
1.Most Rev. Patrick D’ Souza, Varanasi, 2001-2007
2. Most Rev. Isidore Fernandes, Allahabad, 2007-2011
3. Most Rev. Sebastianappan Singaroyan, Salem: 2011-2015
4. Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly, Allahabad: 2015-2023
5. Most Rev. Sebastian Durairaj, S.V.D. 2023-
8. Former Secretaries
1. Fr. Satyanand, IMS: 2001-2006
2. Fr. Vijay Shanthiraj, Varanasi: 2006-2013
3. Rev. Fr. S. Panneer Selvam, Salem: 2014-2022
4. Rev. Dr. Ambrose Pitchaimuthu: 2022-
9. Associate Executive Secretaries
1. Fr. Raju Mathew, Jabhua: 2022-
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