Pope Francis appoints Bishop for Syro-Malabar diocese based in US

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, July 25, 2014: Pope Francis has appointed Father Joy Alappat as auxiliary bishop for the Syro-Malabar diocese based in Chicago. The diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle of Chicago, the only diocese meant for the migrant Catholics from Kerala, has some 87,000 Catholics, 53 priests, some 30 religious.

The new bishop was born in Parappukara, in Kerala in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1981. He holds a master’s degree in theology from the St. Joseph’s Pontifical Institute, Aluva, and the Adheva University, Wattair, and completed the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Georgetown University, U.S.A.  He has held a number of pastoral roles both in India – in the eparchial cathedral in Chalakudy and as chaplain of the Syro-Malabar community in Chennai – and in the U.S.A.

He was also chaplain of Georgetown University and parish priest in New Milford, Newark and Garfield. He is currently rector of the eparchial Cathedral in Bellwood, Illinois.