New Auxiliary Bishop of Trivandrum to be ordained on Sunday

Fr Christudas has been serving as the rector of the diocese's St Vincent's Seminary at Menamkulam.

Thiruvananthapuram:  The episcopal ordination of Fr Christudas Rajappan, the auxiliary bishop-elect of the Latin archdiocese of Trivandrum, will be held in all its grandeur in the Madre de Deus Church at Vettucaud here at 4pm on April 3.

It was in early February that Pope Francis appointed the 44-year-old Fr Christudas as the new auxiliary bishop, taking the total number of bishops under the Trivandrum archdiocese to 13.

Fr Christudas has been serving as the rector of the diocese's St Vincent's Seminary at Menamkulam, the director of the board for clergy and religious and as parish priest of the Kochuthura (Puthukurichy) St Thomas Aquinas Church.

"All arrangements have been made for the ordination which will be a grand function attended by heads of various Catholic churches," Archbishop M Soosa Pakiam of Trivandrum, who will be the principal consecrator, told newspersons here yesterday.

Bishop Stanley Roman of Quilon and Bishop Vincent Samuel of Neyyattinkara will be the co-consecrators, while major archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church, Cardinal George Alancherry will deliver the homily.

The archdiocese will also organize a civic reception to honour the new auxiliary bishop at the Little Flower Parish Hall in the Bishop's House compound at Vellayambalam at 6.30pm on April 5. The reception will be attended by social and cultural leaders.

Source: Times of India