Thomas Menamparampil SDB (born 22 October 1936 in

Pala, Kerala Pala () is a town and a municipality in Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the headquarters of the Meenachil taluk and the Pala Revenue Division. Pala is situated on the banks of the Meenachil river. It is one of the main gateways to ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) is the retired archbishop of

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

. He served as the bishop of Dibrugarh for 11 years and the Archbishop of

for 20 years before his retirement on 18 January 2012. He served as the apostolic administrator of Diocese of Jowai appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

from 3 February 2014 to 15 October 2016.

Personal life

Menamparampil entered the Congregation of the

Salesians of Don Bosco , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turi ...

and made his first religious profession on 24 May 1955.

Prelate

He received the sacrament of the priesthood by Bishop Stephen Ferrando SDB on 2 May 1965 after studying philosophy and Catholic theology. From 1969 to 1970, he completed a master's degree in history and English. From 1972 to 1974 he was the vice-provincial in

. From 1975 to 1981 he was the Rector of Don Bosco Technical School,

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

. On 19 June 1981 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Bishop of the Diocese of Dibrugarh. He was consecrated by Archbishop Hubert D'Rosario on 29 November of that year. On 30 March 1992, he became Bishop of the newly established Diocese of Guwahati in India and was elevated to Archbishop on 10 July 1995 and he was appointed as the Archbishop and Metropolitan of the same ecclesiastical province. From 1986 to 1992 Menamparampil was the chairman of the

Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) is an association of episcopal conferences of Catholic Church in South, Southeast, East and Central Asia. The federation fosters solidarity and joint responsibility for the welfare of the Church a ...

office of Evangelization. During this time, he worked primarily on deepening the relationship with different Asian cultures through evangelism and organizing a meeting between the representatives of the Church and representatives of the Communist governments. Menamparampil was later Special Secretary for the Asian Synod (1998), the author of over 180 articles on various subjects such as evangelism, culture, ministry, education, religious life and prayer. In 2006, he was elected Chair of the Regional Bishops' Conference of Northeast India. In 2008, he was elected Chair of the CBCI commission for Education and Culture. Menamparampil acted as mediator in the conflict between the various ethnic groups in the Union State of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and coordinates the "Joint Ecumenical Peace Team", which is committed to dialogue in Northeast India and has been proven an effective organisation at resolving local conflicts. Archbishop Manamparampil was nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

in 2011. His nomination recognized his continued commitment to have peace, reconciliation and stability in Northeast India, an area full of territorial and ethnic conflicts.

Retirement

On 18 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his retirement. He was succeeded by

Coadjutor Archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coad ...

John Moolachira on the same day as Archbishop. On 3 February 2014,

appointed the Archbishop as Apostolic Administrator of Diocese of Jowai since the diocese was

sede vacante ''Sede vacante'' ( in Latin.) is a term for the state of a diocese while without a bishop. In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the term is used to refer to the vacancy of the bishop's or Pope's authority upon his death or resignation. Hi ...

. His term as apostolic administrator ended with the appointment of Bishop Victor Lyngdoh as the bishop of Jowai on 15 October 2016.

Writings

Cultures in the Context of Sharing the GospelThoughts on EvangelizationCAMINO DE FE Y DE ESPERANZA: Via Crucis con el Papa Benedicto XVI
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menamparampil, Thomas 1936 births Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic titular archbishops Salesian bishops People from Pala, Kerala 20th-century Roman Catholic titular archbishops