Bishop died in accident to be buried tomorrow

Bishop Thomas Thennatt of Gwalior died Dec. 14

Bishop Thomas Thennatt of Gwalior

Gwalior:  Bishop Thomas Thennatt of Gwalior, who died in car accident Dec. 14, will be conducted tomorrow.

The bishop was returning to his residence after an annual function in a school when his car skidded off and overturned. He sustained a severe head injury.

He was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital and thereafter to St Joseph Hospital, Gwalior, where he was declared dead.

Bishop Thennatt, 65, was the first member of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, popularly known as Pallotines, to become a bishop in India.

Diocesan officials said in a release that his funeral will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at St. Paul’s Church Morar, Gwalior.

He was born on 26 November, 1953, at Koodallor in the Archdiocese of Kottayam in Kerala.

After matriculation in 1969, he joined the Pallotine minor seminary in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He did his philosophical studies at St. Charles Seminary in Nagpur and his bachelor’s studies from St Francis de Sales College, Nagpur. He joined Pallottine novitiate in Bangalore in 1974. He was ordained a priest in 1978 by Bishop Joseph Fernandez of Quilon. He obtained a Master’s degree in pastoral theology from Papal Seminary, Pune.

He began his priestly duties as assistant parish priest at St. Vincent Pallotti Parish of Amravati in Guntur diocese, Andhra Pradesh, for a year in 1979. He served as the parish priest of St. Antony Church, Mudfort in Hyderabad Archdiocese for three years from 1984. He then served as the secretary of the Archdiocesan commissions of youth and family and laity.

In 1991, he moved to Indore diocese as the parish priest of St. Theresa Church of Pushpanagar and director for laity and family and Small Christian Communities.

Two years later, he was appointed as regional director for laity and family Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He also served as the parish priest of St. Pius X Church Mankapur in Nagpur diocese, Maharashtra, since 2012.

He was also the director of family apostolate, youth ministry, small Christian Communities, as well as member of many commissions of his congregation. He was also rector of the Regional Theologate at Ashta, Bhopal, for ten years. For six years he was the consulter of the Prabhu Prakash Province of the Pallottines at Nagpur. He was appointed Bishop on 18 October, 2016, when he was the parish priest of St Pius X Church in Nagpur archdiocese. He was ordained Bishop of Gwalior on 8 January 2017.