The Hindu : Kerala News : Jacobite Church plea for new bishops

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 10, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Jacobite Church plea for new bishops

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The working and managing committees of the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Church on Tuesday recommended consecration of new bishops for the dioceses of Kollam, Niranam and Thrissur.

It also recommended that Idukki be made a new diocese along with Kozhikode, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Formation of these dioceses would be with the permission of the Patriarch of the Antioch, said a spokesman for the Jacobite Church.

The meetings were held at the St. Thomas Jacobite Church, North Paravur with Baselios Thomas I, Catholicose, in the chair. Joseph Gregorios, Synod Secretary, Bishop of Kollam diocese, Yuhannan Militheose, Bishop of the Evangelical Association, Geevarghese Polycarpose, Secretary of the Church, Thampu George Thukalan and Varghese Kallappara, spokesman for the Jacobite Church, led the discussions.

The names of Mathew P. George for Kollam and George Mathew Nalumnakkal for Niranam were recommended, said the spokesman. The new Bishop for Thrissur would be decided by the general body of the diocese and it would come before the Synod.

The recommendations would be conveyed to the Patriarch of Antioch by Catholicose Baselios Thomas I after three days fasting and prayers, said Fr. Kallappara here.

Thrikkunnathu seminary

The meetings also pointed out that the Government should not delay in handing over the Thrikkunnathu seminary, Aluva, the St. Mary's Church and the related institutions to the Jacobite group. The meetings also backed the Catholicose to hold a meeting of both the factions of the Malankara Church to decide on the Aluva seminary issue. It appealed to the Government that the latter should carry out the majority will after the Catholicose held a referendum on the issue taking into account the opinion of the laity and clergy on both sides of the divide.

The meeting also put on record that it did not want politicians to interfere in the affairs of the Church and that the Jacobite Church had no politics.

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