On Sunday, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Joy Alappatt of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle in Chicago and named him to succeed him.
On July 3, Bishop Jacob Angadiath, 76, submitted his resignation.
The eparchy provides services to Syro-Malabar Catholic Church members in the United States. The Church is an Eastern Catholic Church with roots in India. It is most closely related to the Chaldean Catholic Church and follows the East Syrian rite.
Alappatt, 65, was born in 1956 in the Indian state of Kerala. He was born in Parappukara. In 1981, he received his ordination as a priest for the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Irinjalakuda after attending St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary in Vadavathoor.
At St. Joseph’s Pontifical Institute in Aluva and Adheva University in Wattair, he pursued graduate studies. He later performed pastoral duties in Chalkudy, Mala, and the cathedral in Irinjalakuda.
Before being sent to the United States in 1993, he served as a chaplain in Chennai.
Alappatt completed the university’s practical pastoral education programme while working as a chaplain at Georgetown University Medical Center from 1999 to 2002. He served as the vicar of Mar Thoma Sleeha Cathedral in Bellwood, Illinois, among other parishes in the United States.
Alappatt was ordained a bishop on September 27, 2014, after being appointed as the St. Thomas eparchy’s auxiliary bishop.
The bishop is fluent in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and English.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is the second-largest Eastern Catholic Church with around 4 million members worldwide, most of whom reside in India.
The St. Thomas eparchy serves 49,000 people, according to the U.S. Bishops’ Conference.