New Apostolic Exarchate for Syro-Malabarian Catholics in Canada

Thursday, August 06 2015

Ottawa, August 6, 2015– Today, His Holiness Pope Francis has erected the Apostolic Exarchate for Syro-Malabar faithful in Canada, with its See in Mississauga (Ontario), and has appointed Reverend Jose Kalluvelil, from the Eparchy of Palghat (India), as its first Apostolic Exarch. Previously, the Syro-Malabar Catholics of the country were part of the Eparchy for Syro-Malabarian Catholics in Canada and the United States which was erected in 2001. The new Exarchate has 18 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 15,000.

At the moment of his appointment, the Apostolic Exart-elect was pastor of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Mission in Mississauga since September 2013. This mission was until now under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto.

The Most Reverend Jose Kalluvelil was born in India on November 15, 1955, and was ordained priest on December 18, 1984. In 1989, he was appointed Director of Catechetical Department in the Eparchy of Palghat where he served for 12 years. In 2001, he completed a degree in Theology of Human Mobility from Urbanian Pontifical University and a Doctorate in Adult Catechesis from Salasian Pontifical University, in Rome.