Bangalore 26 August 2023 (CCBI) The Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church, after having accepted the resignation from the pastoral care presented by Most Rev. Thomas Thuruthimattam, elected Fr. Mathew Nellikunnel (53), CST, Bishop of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh to whom the Holy Father had granted his assent.
Fr. Mathew Nellikunnel was born on November 13, 1970 in Mariapuram, in the Eparchy of Idukki. In 1986 he entered the Congregation of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus (Little Flower Congregation) of the Syro-Malabar Church and carried out his initial formation in Gorakhpur, making his profession on May 17, 1990 as a member of the Khrist Jyoti Punjab-Rajasthan Province.Returning to Kerala to attend the philosophy at the Little Flower Seminary and of theology at the St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary in Aluva, he made his perpetual profession on May 12, 1996. He was ordained a priest on December 30, 1998.
After priestly ordination, he served CST congregation as formator at the minor seminary, community superior and parish priest in Rajasthan. From 2005 to 2010 he studied philosophy in Rome, obtaining a doctorate at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas. From 2010 to 2012 he taught at the Little Flower Seminary, Aluva. From 2012 to 2015 he was a parish priest in Germany, in the diocese of Regensburg. From 2015 to 2018 he was Provincial Superior of the Khrist Jyoti Province. Since 2018 he has held the position of Rector of the Little Flower Seminary, Aluva. He is the brother of Most Rev. John Nellikunnel, Bishop of Idukki Syro Malabar eparchy.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara
Deputy Secretary General, CCBI