Marampudi Joji (7 October 1942 – 27 August 2010) was the third Archbishop of Hyderabad. He was born in Bhimavaram and died at the Bishop's House, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. He knew

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Telugu, and English.

Early years & education

Joji was educated at the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Boarding School in Peddapuram near Samalkot which is managed by the Priests of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC).

Ordination & Pastorship

Joji was ordained a priest on 14 December 1971Catholic Hierarchy, Archbishop Joji
/ref> in the diocese of Vijayawada.Archdiocese of Hyderabad, Ecclesiastical Units 2008, Archbishop's House, 9-1-17/1, Sardar Patel Road, Secunderabad 500 003, Andhra Pradesh, India, pp. 40-41 Joji was privileged to have received Blessed

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

when she went to Vijayawada to initiate the work of the

Missionaries of Charity The Missionaries of Charity ( la, Congregatio Missionariarum a Caritate) is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as ...

Bishopric

Diocese of Khammam

On 21 December 1991, he was appointed the Bishop of Khammam and consecrated on 19 March 1992. He served until 8 November 1996 when he was transferred to the

Diocese of Vijayawada The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vijayawada ( la, Viiayavadan(us)) is a diocese located in the city of Vijayawada in the Ecclesiastical province of Visakhapatnam in India. Administratively, the diocese encompasses the geographical Krishna distri ...

Diocese of Vijayawada

Bishop Joji became the Bishop of Vijayawada on 8 November 1996. However, he took charge of the diocese only on 19 January 1997.

Archbishop of Hyderabad

On 29 January 2000, he was appointed the Archbishop of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. He was installed by Archbishop Giorgio Zur in the presence of his predecessor Archbishop

S. Arulappa Archbishop Samineni Arulappa (28 August 1924 – 13 February 2005), also known as S Arulappa, was an Indian Catholic clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Hyderabad from December 1971 through January 2000. The youngest priest to be consecrat ...

and of Bishop Joseph S. Thumma on 30 April 2000. Joji inaugurated the Hyderabad session of the scholarly Church History Association of India incorporating Church Historians of the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, Orthodox, and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

traditions. Archbishop Joji was known for his able administration. He seemed to have headed the Diocese of Vijayawada's Social Service Society before being elevated to the Bishopric of Khammam. The Archbishop has principally consecrated three Bishops of Andhra Pradesh: * Bishop of Kurnool, Most Rev. P. Anthony (19 April 2008) * Bishop of Cuddapah, Most Rev. G. Prasad (1 March 2008) * Bishop of Nellore, Most Rev. D. M. Prakasam (17 January 2007)Catholic Hierarchy, Bishop Prakasam
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joji, M 2010 deaths 1942 births Telugu people 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India 20th-century Indian Roman Catholic theologians