Khadki’s first Bishop arrives in city
Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Friday, 17 April 2015 AT 01:07 PM IST
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=4806707999328682008&SectionId=5171561142064258099&SectionName=Pune&NewsTitle=Khadki%E2%80%99s%20first%20Bishop%20arrives%20in%20city
Khadki: Thomas Mar Anthonios Valiyavilayil, the designate first bishop of the new Kirkee-Pune exarchate (vicariate), arrived here on Thursday for the first time after he was appointed to the post by the Vatican last month.
The new bishop visited St Mary’s Syro-Malankara Catholic Church at Bhau Patil Road in Khadki, which will serve as the cathedral for the new diocese of Malayalam-speaking Syro-Malankara Catholics in six states of south India.
During the day, Bishop Thomas Mar Anthonios also called on Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre (Latin rite) at St Patrick’s Cathedral. He was accompanied by Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of the newly created diocese of St John Chrysostom of Gurgaon. The two bishops also visited Bethany Ashram at Ramwadi on Nagar Road.
Speaking to Sakal Times, Bishop Thomas Mar Anthonios said that as the first bishop of the Khadki-based Syro-Malankara diocese, his priority would be to strengthen the Malayalam-speaking community of the diocese.
“Holy Father Francis has fulfilled a long pending demand of the Syro-Malankara community to have a new exarchate in this region. We will conduct various religious activities for the devotees and also several charitable works for people belonging to various castes, faiths and creed,” he said.
“I have studied at the Pune-based Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth. The then bishop Valerian d’Souza had appointed me as the first chaplain and later as the parish priest of the Khadki-based St Mary’s Syro-Malankara Church. The same church site now has been chosen as the cathedral of the new exarchate. In a way, it is a home coming for me,” Bishop Anthonios said.
“It will also be our endeavour to unite with non-Catholic churches like Orthodox, Jacobites and Marthomites, to foster Christian and also human unity,” he said.
