By Paschal Norbert
ADDIS ABABA, JUNE 30, 2023 (CISA)– The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) has held an elaborate farewell and thanksgiving ceremony in honour of Rt. Rev. Varghese Thottamkara, the immediate former Vicar Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte, Ethiopia, for his 10 years of service in the country.
The celebration held on June 26, 2023, at the general secretariat of the conference, was led by Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel, president of CBCE, including bishops, priests, religious superiors, persons of consecrated life, laity and the staff of the secretariat.
Bishop Thottamkara, who was appointed on May 10 by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Balasore in the state of Odisha, India, was hailed as a great formator and will be remembered for his teachings on priestly formation, moral theology, church history, canon law and medical ethics, according to Cardinal Berhaneyesus.
In his farewell remarks, Bishop Thottamkara said he is grateful to the people who welcomed and supported him since the beginning of his mandate when he was appointed to serve in Ethiopia in 2013. He also thanked the bishops, religious, priests, laymen, and especially the faithful of the vicariate of Nekemte, for journeying with him.
According to CBCE, he urged all gathered at the event to continue to serve the mother Church following in the example of St. Paul and to pray for the grace of God.
Bishop Varghese Thottamkara was born on June 2, 1959, at Thottuva, Cheranallor, Ernakulam District, to the late Souru and Mariam Thottamkara. His childhood Church was St. Joseph’s Church, Thottuva, in the Catholic Archdiocese of ErnakulamAngamally in the state of Kerala, India. He joined the minor seminary of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) in Gopalpur in July 1976 and was ordained priest on January 6, 1987, at his home parish, St. Joseph’s Church, Thottuva, by Cardinal Antony Padiyara.
In 1987, he served as the assistant Pastor at Muniguda in Odisha and from 1988 to 1990 as assistant pastor and hostel warden at Christnagar (Allada). In 1990 he was sent to Ethiopia to teach in the minor seminary of the Vincentians of Ethiopia at Ambo. In 1992 he taught in the major seminary at Addis Ababa as a visiting Professor. In 1993 he was transferred to Addis Ababa as the first Rector of St. Paul’s Major Seminary of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte. He also served as the Judicial Vicar of the Vicariates of Southern Ethiopia. He also holds a Licentiate in Moral Theology. In 1997, he was appointed Rector of the Vincentian Major Seminary at Addis Ababa.
In 2003, he was elected assistant provincial of the southern Indian province, and in 2004 he was appointed rector and superior of St. Vincent’s Mission House, Aluva in Kochi. The superior general appointed him procurator general of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) and of the Daughters of Charity and Archivist at the General Curia in 2005. In 2010 he was elected one of the assistant generals of the Congregation of the Mission. He was also given the responsibility of assistant for the missions and delegate to the provinces and international missions of the Asia Pacific zone.
On June 28, 2013, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Varghese Thottamkara Coadjutor Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte in Ethiopia; he was ordained bishop on August 13, 2013, and installed as the Vicar Apostolic on November 10, 2013.
As he takes over Balasore as the third bishop of the diocese erected in 1988, Fr Girma Tesfaye, has been appointed as the apostolic administrator of the Vicariate of Nekemte.
