The civil district of North Kanara (Uttara Kannada) was a part of the Archdiocese
of Goa till September 19, 1953, on which day the new diocese of Belgaum was erected.
Two civil districts, Belgaum, and North Kanara, were separated from the Archdiocese of
Goa and two other civil districts, Dharwad, and Bijapur, were taken from the diocese of
Poona to form the diocese of Belgaum. The diocese of Karwar, comprising the whole
civil district of Uttara Kannada was carved out form the diocese of Belgaum and erected
as the diocese of Karwar by the Decree Christi missum of Pope Paul VI dated January 24,
1976 and Most Rev Bishop Leonard D’Mello was appointed as first Bishop of Karwar.
He was ordained and installed as the bishop of Karwar on April 29, 1977. After zealously
shepherding the diocese for nearly 30 years, Bishop William D’Mello resigned on
attaining superannuation. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Msgr Derek Fernandes of
Belgaum Diocese as the new Bishop of Karwar on February 24, 2007. He was ordained
and installed as the second bishop of Karwar on April 20, 2007.
On 13th January 2024, Pope Francis nominated Rev Msgr. Duming Dias from the diocese of Shimoga as Bishop of Karwar.
Though the Portuguese entered into Goa via Angedive (then, a part of Canara) as early as 1500, they were not successful into getting a foothold in Goa, as they were repelled many times by the Kadamba Kings who reigned there. Still, the brave Portuguese General, Alphonse Albuquerque, after having spiritedly motivated his soldiers made one big attempt on St. Catherine’s Day, 29-4-1510 and he succeeded. Of this historic success, which meant the Portuguese were to rule Goa for another four and half centuries. Severine Silva, in his book on “Christianity in Canara” says: “The spirits of the most indifferent soldiers were raised and the following attack was crowned with success on St. Catherine’s day, 1510. A Portuguese Empire was founded in India. Canara thus played a prominent part in the foundation of the Portuguese Empire:”(p.34)
Exactly 467 years later on the same day (29.4.1977), the Holy Father Pope Paul VI, apportioning an area of the universal Church, hereafter to be known as Karwar Diocese. to the pastoral care of Rt.Rev.Dr. William Leonard .D’Mello, its first Bishop, created an equally important history! More than a victory over an earthly terrain. Bishop D’Mello was given charge of the spiritual care of a flock, by etching the name of the Diocese and his own in the spiritual history of the Church in India!
In the year 2002, the diocese celebrated its Silver Jubilee and now heading towards its Golden jubilee.
In the second major round of evangelization of India, which
began with the arrival of the Portuguese, Karwar had a major role to
play perhaps even before Goa. This historical episode took place at
the island called Anjadiv (Anjadip), close to a small village, though falls
in the State of Goa, is just about 4 k.ms from the city of Karwar "Vasco
de Gama first visited Anjadiv island in 1498 and subsequently in 1502
for collection of water and repair of ships during his voyage from Calicut
to Portugal.
The Neo Catechumenal Way began in the early 60’s in one of the slums of Madrid, by Kiko Arguëllo and Carmen Hernandez, and was endorsed by the then Archbishop of Madrid, Casimiro Morcillo. It was later realized that in these communities there was a true rediscovery of the Word of God and the implementation of the liturgical renewal proposed at that time by the Council.
A significant, though not wide-spread, venture in forming the people in adult faith has been the ‘Neo Catechumenal Way’ which was introduced in the diocese of Karwar way back in 1978. Since then, the Neo Catechumenal Communities were started in the important parishes in Karwar, Honavar, Dandeli, Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur. These communities have made their presence in many parishes in the Diocese of Karwar. This movement is based on a Tripod of the Word of God, sacramental celebration and deep inter-personal communion created among the members. Regular, thorough and systematic faith formation through catechesis, active and lively participation in liturgy, familiarity with the Scriptures with age-old tested methods such as Bible scrutiny (Scrutatio), Word of God sharing, evangelization to the non-Christians and progressive introduction to faith and way of Christian life are the hallmark of the Way. The Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Bangalore, which belongs to the Diocese of Karwar, prepares seminarians who have discovered their vocation through the NCW to be ordained priests for the diocese of Karwar to be sent in mission by the Bishop of Karwar to any part of the world according to the universal need of the Church. Many of them have been ordained. Some of these priests serve in the parishes of the diocese of Karwar and many others serve in mission places. At the call of St. John Paul II and recently of Pope Francis, a few families from the diocese have volunteered as entire families for ecclesia implantatio type of mission or the Ad Gentes mission and are working in other parts of India. Late Bishop William D’Mello, verbalized this movement in the diocese as a “spiritual powerhouse” in his southern Indian diocese.