Bishop Varghese Thottamkara, C.M. is the serving Vicar Apostolic of Nekemte,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Early life

He was born on 2 June 1959 in

Thottuva Thottuva is a village in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India. It lies on the banks of Periyar River near Kalady. The name Thottuva in Malayalam means "Mouth of the stream". Just as the name suggests, there is a small stream in the village, which j ...

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India.

Education

In 1998 he acquired

Licentiate of Sacred Theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theol ...

Moral theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...

from

Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the Christian liturgy, liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal (liturgy), ordinal for the ordination and consecration of dea ...

Priesthood

On 10 May 1986 he became a member of the

Congregation of the Mission , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...

. He was Ordained a Priest in the

Antony Padiyara Mar Antony Padiyara (11 February 1921 – 23 March 2000) was a Syro Malabar Major Archbishop and cardinal. He was the First Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. He was Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly from 1985 to 1996 ...

on 6 January 1987. He served as Parish Priest for

Muniguda Muniguda, located 60 km from Rayagada, is a town in the Rayagada district in the Indian state of Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the ...

and

Allada Allada is a town, arrondissement, and commune, located in the Atlantique Department of Benin. The current town of Allada corresponds to Great Ardra (also called Grand Ardra, or Arda), which was the capital of a Fon kingdom also called Allada (t ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Berhampur The Roman Catholic Diocese of Berhampur ( la, Berhampuren(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Berhampur in the Ecclesiastical province of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar in India. History * 24 January 1974: Established as Diocese of Berhampur from ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

, India from 1988 to 1990. From year 1990 to 1993 he served minor seminary of

Ambo, Ethiopia Ambo ( om, Amboo) is a town in west-central Ethiopia. Located in the West Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, west of Addis Ababa, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,101 meters. Ambo is known for its mineral water, whic ...

as a vice rector. From 1993 to 1995 he held the office of the rector and professor at Vincentian major seminary in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Episcopate

He was Appointed Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Nekemte,

, and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Chullu on 28 June 2013. He was Ordained a

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Luca Brandolini Luca Brandolini, CM (born 25 December 1933) is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo from 1993 to 2009. Biography Luca Brandolini was born in Monte Compatri, and entered the Congregation ...

on 13 August 2013. He Succeeded Bishop Theo Van Ruijvven C.M. as

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Nekemte Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market town and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meter ...

on 10 November 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thottamkara, Varghese 1959 births Living people 20th-century Indian Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Africa Diplomats of the Holy See Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni