INDIA. org. The Holy Father erected the new eparchy of Faridabad of the Syro-Malabars in India. He appointed Msgr. Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of the clergy of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars, India, Counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature to Germany, was appointed by the Holy Father as first bishop of the newly erected diocese, Diocese of Faridabad, conferring upon him the title of Archbishop “ad personam”. The Episcopal Ordination will be held on May 26, 2012 at Delhi and the installation ceremony will take place in the Diocesan Cathedral, Christ the King Church in Faridabad about 25 km away from Delhi Center. Msgr. Kuriakose is a close friend of Schoenstatt and helped especially with the beginnings of the Schoenstatt Movement in Caracas, Venezuela.
On October 18, 2003, Msgr. Kuriakose – then secretary of the Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela – was the main celebrant during a solemn Covenant Mass in the Church of the Cappuchines in Caracas, with some 150 persons attending, and the commissioning of 25 Pilgrim MTA`s – a celebration that meant a new beginning for Schoenstatt in Venezuela, a movement of many beginnings dating back
The archbishop-elect was born in Karippassery, India in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1983. He studied in Rome before entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See, with which he has served in a number of different countries like Cameroon, Iraq and Jordan, Venezuela, Congo and Gabon, Holy See Mission to the U.N. in New York and currently Germany.
The Diocese of Faridabad was erected by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Members (Oriental Catholics) of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and districts of Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) of Uttar Pradesh. The new diocese has 9.50 lakh sq. km of area with over 65 Priests and 250 Religious women are already working in different parishes here.
The Schoenstatt Movement is not present in the new diocese entrusted to Archbishop-elect Msgr. Kuriakose, but growing steadily in southern Indian states Kerala, Bangalore, and Tamil Nadu.
Congratulations and prayers to the new archbishop!
