New Apostolic Visitor for the UK’s Syro-Malankara Catholics

Pope Benedict XVI has erected an Apostolic Exarchate for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in the United States, and appointed Father Thomas Naickamparampil, 49, of the Major Archieparchy of Trivandrum as its first bishop. He will also serve as apostolic visitor for the Syro-Malankara Catholics in Canada and Europe too.

Mar Thomas (left) was born on June 6, 1961 at Mylapra in Pathanamthitta District of the Eparchy of Pathanamthitta. After completing high school, he joined St Aloysius Minor Seminary, Pattom, Trivandrum, and then later completed his priestly formation at the Papal Seminary in Pune. He was ordained on December 29, 1986. He has a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church traces its roots back to St Thomas the Apostle. The Church split from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in 1930, and then entered into communion with Rome. In 2005, the Eastern Church was elevated to a major archiepiscopal Church. It is currently led by Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis, and currently has eight eparchies and some 500,000 faithful.

The community of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church began to organize in 1984 in New York. Today there are an estimated 10,000 members, 16 parishes and 15 mission stations of the Church in the United States and Canada. It numbers 30 priests, and 34religious. The new Apostolic Exarchate will have its headquarters in New York City, and the main parish will be the Malankara Catholic Church in Long Island.