Balaramapuram: The Syro-Malankara Church on September 23 erected a new diocese and consecrated its first prelate.
Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis, the head of the youngest Catholic ritual Church, consecrated Thomas Mar Eusebius as the first bishop of Parassala diocese during Mass celebrated at Mar Ivanios Nagar (Nazareth Home School ground) at Balaramapuram.
The new eparchy has chosen St. Teresa of Kolkata as its patron saint, The Hindu reported.
Present on the occasion was Syrian Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Yousuf Younan, Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, Missionaries of Charity superior general Sister Mary Prema and Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph.
The newly consecrated Bishop Thomas Mar Eusebius was greeted by Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council president Archbishop M. Soosa Pakiam, head of the Latin Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram; Archbishop Joseph Perumthottam of Changanacherry and Bishop Vincent Samuel of Neyyattinkara.
The new diocese has been established by including the parishes in the ecclesiastical districts of Parassala, Neyyatinkara, and Kattakada and two parishes in the ecclesiastical district of Thiruvananthapuram.