By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: Pope Francis on June 29 appointed bishops for Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and Port Blair that covers the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Father Savarimuthu Arokiaraj is the new bishop of Tiruchirappalli while Father Visuvasam Selvaraj, the Port Blair prelate.
Both the appointments were announced at 12 noon Rome time.
Father Arokiaraj, 67, a priest of Tiruchirappalli. He is currently the rector and parish priest of Holy Redeemer’s Basilica, Tiruchirappalli, according to a press release from Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
Soon after his ordination, he was appointed the assistant parish of priest of St. Joseph’s Church, Dindigul. The same year, he was made the parish priest of Ayyampatty, a post he held until 1986.
Bishop-elect Arokiaraj then served as the parish priest at P. Udayapatty for a year. He was the secretary of the Diocesan Liturgy Commission from 1988 to 1991. He was promoted as the regional secretary for the Liturgy Commission of Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council and he held the post until 1994.
He then went for higher studies in France. On his return in 2002, he was reappointed secretary of the Tamil Nadu bishops’ liturgy commission.
He served as the diocesan chancellor and parish priest of Subramaniapuram from 2009 to 2012; professor of Liturgy at St. Paul’s Seminary, Tiruchirappalli for three years from 2012. He then served as the parish priest of the Cathedral Church, Tiruchirappalli until 2016.
His next assignment was as the rector of St. Paul’s Seminary, Tiruchirappalli, a post he held until 2019.
The diocese of Tiruchirapalli became vacant after the retirement of Bishop Antony Devotta on July 14, 2018. Bishop Devotta died October 15, 20219.
The diocese of Tiruchirappalli comprises parts of three civil districts of Tamil Nadu. It has 73 parishes grouped into five vicariates: Vicariate of Puthur, Crawford, Ponmalai, Keeranur and Manaparai.
Bishop-elect Selvaraj, 55, was serving as the administrator of Port Blair diocese since 2019, said Father Alathara in another press note.
Port Blair’s first Bishop Aleixo das Neves Dias, a member of the Pilar Society, resigned on January 5, 2019.
Bishop-elect Selvaraj was born on January 4, 1966, in Raja Anna Malaipuram, in the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. He attended the diocesan minor seminary in Santhome, Madras, studied Philosophy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Poonamallee, Chennai and Theology at St. Albert’s College, Ranchi.
He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Port Blair on May 8, 1994.
He began his priestly life as parish priest of the Cathedral, Port Blair until 1995. He was a diocesan consulter between 1994 and1998.
He served as the diocesan procurator for three years from 1995. He was then made the assistant parish priest of Mayabunder, a post he held for a year.
He also served as the director of Social Service, procurator, In-charge of projects; in-charge of formation, chaplain at St. Joseph’s Church, Dairy Farm; in-charge of Sagritara Press; Chaplain of the Tamil community, and diocesan consulter.