Contact Details
Catholic Ashram
Barwadih P.O
Latehar Dt. 822 111
Jharkhand, INDIA
Tel.: (+91) (0)6567-288 34

Inception and Development
The attempts of the Indian Claretians to expand their missionary activity to the heartland of the country, the Hindi speaking areas began in June 1986 when two regents were sent to the diocese of Daltonganj in the erstwhile Bihar.

Later in 1994 student Thomas Pymattom came to the diocese of Daltonganj for diaconate ministry. After becoming a priest, he along with Fr. Lukose Kochupurackal began their ministry in Barwadih on 16 June 1996 in view of opening a mission there. In April, Barwadih was erected a separate parish.

Pastoral Ministry
In April, 1996 Barwadih was erected a separate parish. The Missionaries cater to the spiritual needs of more than 250 Catholic families in Barwadih parish, residing in 12 villages. The farthest village is 30 kms away. Almost all the parishioners are Adivasis, majority of whom belong to the Munda tribe. The area is mostly forests and the density of population is thin. Evangelization activities are mostly indirect. The parish has a sub-station at Morwai and Ursuline Sisters are serving at this station.

Educational Apostolate
The Mission is also involved in education. The Centre has two primary schools at Morwai and Barhania, handed over to the Claretians by the diocese. Both these schools are over 20 years old. The total strength in the two schools is a little over 400, mostly tribals and Harijans. Apart from this, the mission also runs eight Centres of informal education, providing basic education to the non-school going children and adults.

Rural and Tribal Welfare Programs
The region is haunted by numerous social evils: mass illiteracy, abject poverty, naxalite extremism, almost total corruption in the government machinery, casteism and exploitation of the lower castes and mass exodus of the unemployed etc. Missionaries in the region strive to bring a little relief through their social actions. They are involved in training programme for village leaders, women and youth in view of empowering theses groups to fight the evils and also in a national movement called Bharat Jan Andolan, standing for safeguarding the rights of the weaker ethnic groups like the tribals

The Missionaries also launched community development and healthcare projects in the mission. For this purpose, the Missionaries constructed a community hall.

Health Care
Having no good hospitals in the near vicinity, the health situation in the region is alarming. The Missionaries are involved in providing healthcare facilities to the tribal population. The mission Centre constructed a dispensary with in-patient facility and it began functioning on 20 July 2003. The Missionaries also conduct awareness programme and health camps in the villages.