Pope Francis has appointed Mar Joy Alappatt as the new bishop of St. Thomas Syro – Malabar Eparchy of Chicago. He has been serving as its auxiliary bishop till the announcement. The announcement was released on 3 July.
Born in 1956, Mar Joy Alappatt joined the St. Thomas Minor Seminary at Thrissur and completed his major seminary from St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary at Kottayam. He was ordained as a priest on 31 December, 1981.
After coming to the United States in 1994, he served as the Associate Pastor in New York and New Jersey. He was invited to serve in St. Thomas Syro – Malabar Eparchy of Chicago in 2001 by Mar Jacob Angadiath. Later, he was appointed as the Director of Syro Malabar Mission of Garfield, Newark. He was appointed as the auxiliary bishop on 24 July, 2014 and ordained Bishop on 27 September, 2014.
