By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Feb 24, 2020: Pope Francis on February 24 appointed Father Jose Chirackal as the auxiliary bishop of Tura, a diocese in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya.
The announcement was made at noon in Rome and its corresponding time (4:30 pm) in India.
Father Chirackal is the present director of Pastoral Centre of the diocese, pastor of adjacent parish and in-charge of a school.
The bishop-elect was born on July 14, 1960 at Ayiroor near Karukutty in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. He was ordained a priest for Tura on December 29, 1987.
After the schooling in Kerala, he joined the Tura diocese in 1976. He studied at St. Paul’s Minor Seminary, Philosophy at Christ King College, and Theology at Oriens Theological College, all in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, and later a Licentiate and Doctorate in Canon Law from Università Urbaniana, Roma, in 1995.
According to a press note from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the bishop-elect had served the diocese in the following ministries: 1988-1991: Asst. Priest, St. Joseph’s Church, Selsella; 1991: Acting Headmaster, Sacred Heart School, Dalu; 1995-2004: Rector, St. Peter’s Minor Seminary, Tura; 2004-2009: Diocesan Procurator and Chancellor; 2004-2011: Judicial Vicar and Diocesan Spokesperson; 2009-2011.
He also served as the parish priest of the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, Tura; 2011-2014: Rector, Oriens Theological College, Shillong, and Secretary, North East Regional Commission for Vocations and Formation; 2014-2019.
Since July 2019, he was appointed parish priest of St Luke’s Church, Walbakgre, Tura and director of Pastoral Centre. He has been member of the College of Consultors, and visiting professor in Oriens Theological College, Shillong, for many years.
According to Tura diocesan website, the diocese has 270,100 Catholics in a population of 1,103,115. They live in 44,335 families in 2,199 villages.
Erected on April 7, 1973, the diocese spread over 8,167 square kilometers caters to Garo, Rabha, Boro, Koch and Hajong tribal people. It has 43 parishes served by 53 and scores of religious priests.
Although Christianity entered Meghalaya;s Garo Hills in 1867, Catholic missionaries began organized evangelization work only in 1933 among Garos.
Salvatorian Father Rudolf Fontaine, who lived in Guwahati, was the first Catholic priest to visit Garoland in 1913.
The first Garo Catholics in Garo Hills were those baptized by the Holy Cross Fathers in the present Bangladesh and then migrated to Garo Hills, especially to those villages near Baghmara. The first apostle of Garo Hills was Peter Shem Momin, a Garo who received the Catholic faith while undergoing agricultural training in Shillong. He was responsible for the early conversions at Laskarpara, Chotcholja, Damit Apal, Kharkutta and Dilma.
In 1933, the Salesian priests obtained permission from the government to stay in Garo Hills. They opened the first Catholic mission at Tura, some 310 km west of Shillong the state capital.
The Sisters of the Congregation of Missionaries of Christ Jesus were the first women religious to arrive in Garo Hills in 1948. The first Indian missionaries to set foot in Garo Hills were Fathers M.P. Alexander and Mathew Elanjipuram in 1956.
On April 7, 1973, Tura was made a diocese by detaching territories from the Archdiocese of Shillong-Guwahati with Salesian Bishop Orestes Marengo as Apostolic Administrator.
On February 8, 1979, Pope John Paul Ii appointed Father George Mamalassery as the first bishop of Tura. He retired in 2007 and was replaced with a native Catholic Father Andrew R Marak, the current prelate.