Syro Malabar church carries out reorganisation of its dioceses in India

Kochi, Aug 28 (PTI) The Syro-Malabar Church, with its headquarters in Kakkanad here, has created four new ecclesiastical provinces and elevated bishops to archbishops to lead these provinces.

The Major Archbishop of the Church, Raphael Thattil, also elevated two priests to the rank of bishop, church authorities said in a statement released on Thursday.

According to the church, it reorganized the territorial boundaries of twelve of its dioceses across India.

Spanning across 23 states, four union territories, and two islands, this vast jurisdiction necessitated additional reorganisation measures to ensure effective pastoral care, the church stated in a press release The decisions were made during the ongoing 33rd Bishops’ Synod of the Church at Kakkanad, which is scheduled to conclude on Friday, according to an official statement.

The new decree redraws the territorial boundaries of the Adilabad, Bijnor, Chanda, Gorakhpur, Kalyan, Jagdalpur, Rajkot, Sagar, Satna, Shamshabad, and Ujjain dioceses.

As part of this, our new provinces, Faridabad, Ujjain, Kalyan, and Shamshabad, have been created.

Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, Bishop of Faridabad, has been elevated to Archbishop, with the eparchies of Bijnor and Gorakhpur as suffragan dioceses.

Sebastian Vadakel MST, Bishop of Ujjain, has been appointed Archbishop, with the eparchies of Sagar, Satna, and Jagdalpur as suffragan eparchies.

Sebastian Vaniyapurackal has been appointed Metropolitan Archbishop, with the eparchies of Chanda and Rajkot as suffragan dioceses.

Prince Antony Panengadan, former Bishop of Shamshabad, has been elevated to Archbishop, with the Eparchy of Adilabad as a suffragan diocese.

Additionally, the Diocese of Hosur in Tamil Nadu will now be a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Trichur.

Fr James Patteril CMF is elevated as Bishop of Belthangady. Fr Joseph Thachaparambath, CMI, has been appointed as the Bishop of Adilabad, as stated in the press release. PTI TBA HMP ROH