St. Vincent De Paul Pro Cathedral, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

The history of Catholic Church in Bhubaneswar began with opening of St. Joseph's School by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Annecy. The sisters were granted permission to maintain their private chapel on 5th March 1951. Father Valerian Guemes from Khurda road or priests from Cuttack came to celebrate Holy Mass for the sisters and for a small migrant community. In 1958, it was declared a semi-public chapel. Since then the parish grew from strength to strength . Father Antony Attuly was the first chaplain to be posted at Bhubaneswar in the middle of 1960. In April 1963 the foundation stone for the present Church was laid . In 1966, Father Vincent Urbaneja, CM began the construction of the present Church which was blessed on 24th December 1968.

Father Luis Sabhasundar, Father Vincent Mathew, Father Cyril Pradhan CM, Father Anselm Biswal, Father Thomas Chelan, Father Joseph Kalathil and Father Bijaya Pradhan were the successive Parish priests,

Father Prasan Kumar Pradhan has been appointed as Vicar General of the Archdiocese and Parish Priest and Father Mritunjaya Digal B as Assistant Parish Priest of Bhubaneswar Parish in 2014.

The Archdiocese of Cuttack–Bhubaneswar comprises of nine civil districts of Boudh, Cuttack, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Khurda, Jagatsingpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh and Puri.

On 24 January 1974 Cuttack Mission was divided into the Metropolitan See of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and the Diocese of Berhampur. Most Rev. Msgr. Henry D’Souza was appointed the first Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. He was ordained on 5 th May 1974 in Calcutta. In the same year the Bishop’s residence was shifted from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar, the State capital.

In April, 1984 Archbishop D’Souza was called back to the Archdiocese of Calcutta. On 11 of August, 1985, Bishop Raphael Cheenath, SVD of the Diocese of Sambalpur succeeded him as the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.

Archbisphop Raphael Cheenath, SVD retired and bishop John Barwa was announced Archbioshop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on February 11, 2011, Archbisphop-elect John barwa was installed Archbisphop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on April 2, 2011 at our Lady of Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, Cuttack.

HISTORY OF PRO-CATHEDRAL CHURCH
The Government of Orissa was offering land free of cost for religious purposes on a long-lease basis on 1958. The Catholic Church was fortunate to get a piece of land in the New Capital of Orissa, and thus began the building of a new Church and community in this new Capital.

Fr. V. Urbaneja, C.M. was the person who took the initiative right from the beginning. He along with the help and guidance of Mr. Julius Vaz, the then Chief Architect of the Government of Orissa.

The temple of God was ready and would be later on erected into the Pro-Cathedral of the archdiocese of Cuttack- Bhubaneswar

That day it was marked with a Solemn: " LAUS DEO ET SANCTO VINCENTO"