New bishop appointed for Gwalior Diocese
Fr. Thennatt is currently parish priest at Mankapur in the Archdiocese of Nagpur and President of the Pastoral Commission of the SAC Nagpur Province.
Vatican City, 23 Oct 2016: Pope Francis on Oct 18 appointed Fr. Thomas Thennatt of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (SAC)asthe new bishop to the Diocese of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The 63-year old priest takes over from Bishop Joseph Kaithathara who has retired.
Fr. Thennatt is currently parish priest at Mankapur in the Archdiocese of Nagpur and President of the Pastoral Commission of the SAC Nagpur Province.
The bishop-elect was born on November 26, 1953 in Koodalloor in the Diocese of Kottayam, Kerala. He was ordained a priest on October 21, 1978. He has served in parishes in thedioceses of Amravati, Eluru, Hyderabad, Indore, Jhabuaand Nagpur.
From 1987-1991, he was Director of the Commission on Youth, families and the laity of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad. From 1993-1998, he was Regional Director for the laity and families, and for the Small Christian Communities in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. From 1998-2008, he was Rector of Khrist PremalayaTheologate, Ashta, and Director of the Regional Formation Commission. From 2002-2008, he was Councilor in the Province of Nagpur of his Congregation.
He served as President of the Conference of Religious in India from 2008-2012.
The Diocese of Gwalior was established in 1999as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Bhopal. It has an area of 33,500 square kilometers and a population of 6,500,000 inhabitants, of whom 4,900 are Catholics. There are 13 parishes, served by 33 priests (23 diocesan and 10 religious), 68 nuns and 11 seminarians.