St. Anne’s Church, Bijapur
St. Anne’s was a small chapel built in 1891 to look after the pastoral needs of the few Catholics at Bijapur. The priest-in-charge of Guledgud Mission was also the one in-charge of the mission station at Bijapur. As the number of parishioners increased the chapel was too small to contain the congregation. Fr. De Niese, the Priest in charge of Bijapur approached the Bishop for the construction of a new Church. With the donation from abroad and the contribution from the Parishioners a new Church was built and was blessed and inaugurated on 22nd December 1983, by Bishop Ignatius Lobo. In 1991 the Bishop of the Diocese of Belgaum requested the Jesuits of Karnataka Province to take care of the Catholic community of St. Anne’s Church, Bijapur. The first Jesuits who pioneered the mission were Fr. Ambrose D’Mello and Fr. Denis Alvares.
After the diocese of Gulbarga was established in 2005, Bijapur became a Deanery with the Mission Superior as the Dean. It comprises the missions of Bijapur, Devarahipparagi, Indi, Kanakal, Sindagi, Almel, Muddebihal and Talikote. Nine religious congregations and a diocesan priest are spread out in the whole of the deanery of Bijapur. The religious congregations are: Society of Jesus (SJ), Sisters of Charity (SCCG), Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny (SJC), Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes (SJT), Daughters of the Heart of Mary (DHM), Sisters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (JMJ), Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM), Ursuline Franciscan Sisters (UFS) and Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyons (SJL). Although each of the congregations/priests functions autonomously in the area assigned to them, we feel the need to work as a team with a common vision, objectives, strategies and plans of action.
With the growth in the congregation because of immigrated families and in the number of students and nurses, and also on account of the irreparable leakage of the old structure, that has been demolished and a new church building is taking shape.
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