The Diocese of Badulla began modestly 40 years ago on 18th December 1972. The first Bishop of Badulla Most Rev. Dr. D. Leo Nanayakkara, O.S.B. of revered memory, left the long established See of Kandy and gladly undertook to pioneer the new diocese, co-terminus with the civil Province of Uva, the poorest province of Sri Lanka. The newly demarcated diocese consisted of four parishes, Badulla, Bandarawela, Lunugala and Welimada, which had already existed as part of the diocese of Kandy. Almost immediately after assuming the reins of the new diocese, he established a mission centre at Bibile, the Catechetical apostolate, Mission Development Apostolate, Committee for InterReligious Dialogue and the Social Arm of the Diocese – The Uva Socio-Economic and Community Development (USCOD) Centre – which attended to communitarian social action and welfare including healing and care of the sick through medical clinics in the outstations and care of leprosy patients through monthly visits by nursing Sisters, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary who worked in the Diocese. Bishop Leo died in 1982, having increased the Parishes to 10 (ten). Read More