Catholics in Bombay: A Historical-Demographic Study of the Roman Catholic Population in the Archdiocese of Bombay (An Old and Rare Book)

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This is the first demographic study on Roman Catholics in India using the Roman Catholic Parish records of the Archdiocese of Bombay for the last 125 years. The study reveals that the baptismal, burial and nuptial records maintained in the parishes are fairly reliable and accurate justifying further historical rese- arch work in this field in other parts of India. After Parsis, this study maintains that Roman Catholics, one of the minority religious groups in India, are in the final stage of demographic transition with low mortality and fertility.

Dr. Sebastian Irudaya Rajan (born in 1959) is currently teaching at the Global Training Program in Population and Development commissioned by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), New York, at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Dr. Rajan has a Ph. D. in Demography from International Institute for Population Sciences, Bombay. He has contributed a number of research papers on demography in reputed journals in India and abroad and has attended inter- national symposiums on demography. His major research interests are economic and demographic aspects of aging, mortality, family planning and the historical demography of Roman Catholics in India.

While working on this book, I have benefited greatly from the support, both intellectual and emotional, of a number of persons whom I wish to gratefully acknowledge.

My primary debt of gratitude is to my research supervisor, Dr. K. Srinivasan, Director, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Bombay, for his affectionate treatment, continuous encouragement, stimulating guidance and critical scrutiny throughout this work.

I am thankful to Dr. S. Mukerji, Dr. Moline Karkal, Dr. K. B. Pathak and Dr. P. C. Saxena, for their constant encouragement and moral support at every stage of this research. My profound and hearty thanks to Most. Rev. Cardinal Simon Ignatius Pimenta, D. D., and his associates Fr. Sabino D' Silva, Fr. Henry Barboza, Fr. Peter Paul Fernandes, Fr. Joseph Vincent, Fr. Charles Pereyra, Fr. Frank Toner, Fr. Edgar Moreira, Fr. Artonio Caeiro, and parish priests of the parishes under study, for their timely help and cooperation in providing the necessary material used in this research.

I have great pleasure in sincerely acknowledging the assistance of Dr. Anna Sebastian, Chief of the Computer Unit, IIPS, and her associates, Mr. Baptist, Mr. R. T. Deshpande, Ms. Vinayak and Ms. Vajrswari, in the statistical analysis of the data. I equally appreciate and thank Ms. A. Abraham, Retired Librarian, Mr. R. T. Randeria, Librarian and Mr. K. V. R. Rao, Deputy Librarian, IIPS, and Mr. Padmashali, for providing necessary facilities. I am thankful to Dr. Fr. John Correia Afonso, Director, Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, Dr. Victor D'Souza, Visiting fellow, IIPS, Bombay, Fr. Francis da Gama, Editor, Our Vineyard, Fr. Benny Aguiar, Editor, The Examiner, Fr. Sebastjan Karotemprel, Editor, Indian Missiological Review, for their valuable suggestions.