The Syro-Malabar Church on August 25 announced the appointment of three auxiliary bishops for the larger of the two Oriental Catholic rites in India.
It also accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Jacob Muricken of Palai, who wants to lead an ascetic life.
Cardinal George Alencherry, who heads the Church as its Major Archbishop, appoint-ed Father Alex Tharamangalam as the auxiliary bishop of the eparchy of Mananthavady and Fathers Joseph Kollamparambil and Thomas Padiyath as auxiliaries of the eparchy of Shamshabad.
The announcement was made during the closing ceremony of second session of the Church’s 30th Synod of Bishops, after obtaining the assent of Pope Francis through the Apostolic Nuncio.
Since Tharamangalam is in Germany, he could not be present on the occasion. The other two were given the insignia by Cardinal Alencherry together with Bishop Raphael Thattil Shamshabad.
With the three new prelates, the Church has a total of 65 bishops, retired as well as active.
Bishop-designate Tharamangalam, a priest of the archdiocese of Thalassery, was born in 1958. He began his priestly forma-tion in the minor Seminary at Thalassery in 1973 and was ordained a priest on January 1, 1983. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Gregorian University, Rome.
Bishop-elect Kollamparambil, who was born in 1955, began his priestly training at the minor seminary of Palai diocese. He was ordained a priest on December 18, 198. He has served in several parishes of Palai diocese. Having secured a Master’s from St. Thomas College, Palai, he served as a lecturer, bursar and warden of the college hostel.
Bishop-elect Padiyath, a priest from the archdiocese of Changanacherry, was born in 1969. He entered the minor seminary in 1984 and was ordained a priest on December 29, 1994. He started his priestly ministry as the assistant vicar in Athirampuzha parish and secretary to Archbishop Joseph Powathil of Changnacherry. He has a doctorate in philosophy and a Master’s in theology from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He served as a professor at Good Shepherd Major Se-minary, Kunnoth in Kannur district. He has taught in several major seminaries and In-stitutions. He is currently serving as Syncellus in the Archeparchy of Changanacherry.