Two new canonical provisions for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

The Holy See today (March 26, 2015) announced two new canonical provisions for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, namely a new Eparchy and a new Exarchate in India outside the hitherto proper territory of the Church. 1. Eparchy of St. John Chrysostom of Gurgaon: The new Eparchy extends along the northern part of India, covering 22 of the 29 states. The district’s southern boundary is made up of the four Central states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. In addition to these four states, the faithful are distributed throughout Punjab, Rajashtan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The Eparchy is headquarted in Gurgaon near New Delhi because that metropolitan area has the largest concentration of faithful in the nine parishes covered. The region has two colleges and ten schools administrated by the Syro-Malankara church. It has 15 priests, both regular and eparchial, and 30 religious carrying out its pastoral, educational, and charitable work. His Excellency the Most Rev. Jacob Mar Barnabas OIC is appointed as the first bishop of the new Eparchy. Bishop Barnabas has been serving the Church as the Apostolic Visitator to the Malankara Catholic Faithful in the extra territorial regions in India. 2. Exarchate of St. Ephrem of Khadki: The new Exarchate extends along the southern part of India, which previously did not have any ecclesial district of the Syro-Malankar church, and includes the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana together with parts of the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The extra-territorial mission of the Syro-Malankara church began in Pune in 1955. Today, the Syro-Malankara presence in the Exarchate’s region includes 27 parishes and missions. There are 21 priests dedicated to pastoral care, 13 convents, and a dozen schools including a college of higher learning. The majority of the faithful are located around Mumbai and Poona, in the western state of Maharashtra. His Excellency the Most Rev. Thomas Mar Anthonios OIC is appointed the first bishop of the new Exarchate. Bishop Anthonios has been serving as the Curia Bishop of the Church. This announcement was also made at the Head Quarters of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Trivandrum by His Beatitude Moran Mor Baselios Cardinal Cleemis, the Major Archbishop Catholicos. The Syro-Malankara Catholic Exarchate in the US extends hearty congratulations and prayerful best wishes to to Bishop Barnabas and Bishop Anthonios and to all the priests, religious and faithful in the new Eparchy and Exarchate.