Media Release
Panaji, Dec 23: The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) will inaugurate Shanti Sadan its new secretariat extension in Benaulim, Goa, on Monday January 6, 2020.
His Eminence, Oswald Cardinal Gracias, the Metropolitan archbishop of Mumbai, will inaugurate and bless the building. Dr Filipe Neri Ferrão, the president of the CCBI and the archbishop of Goa, will unveil the plaque and bless the ground floor. Fr George Antonysamy, the vice-president of the CCBI and the archbishop of Madras Mylapore will bless the first floor and deliver the homily during the celebration of the holy eucharist. Fr Anil Couto, the secretary-general of the CCBI and the archbishop of Delhi, will bless the second floor.
Two of the CCBI commissions, Liturgy and Family will operate from Shanti Sadan, Benaulim. Fr Dr Ayres Fernandes the executive secretary to the CCBI Commission for Liturgy is appointed as the administrator of the house. The episcopal conference will organize small animation and training programmes from Shanti Sadan.
The three-storey building has 25 self-contained rooms and can accommodate 40 persons. It has a chapel, conference and dining halls. The new secretariat extension building is situated in Benaulim, the birthplace of St Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka. It is 17 kilometre from the Goa airport and 4 kilometre from the city railway station.
The CCBI has five secretariat buildings in India, Suvarta Kendra, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh is the secretariat of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation. Bethania, Faridabad, New Delhi is the CCBI youth commission secretariat, the PMO Office, Ulsoor, Bengaluru, is the secretariat of the Pontifical Mission Organisation (PMO). The headquarters of the CCBI is the CCBI Centre, Bengaluru from where the deputy secretary-general and four other commission secretaries operate.
There are 16 commissions and three departments under the CCBI where 23 personnel are working as executive secretaries or directors.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) is canonically the National Episcopal conference for the Latin church. It is the largest bishops conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. It consists of 132 dioceses with 190 bishops.