New office bearers elected for CBCI

By Stephen Alathara

Chennai, Jan 12, 2019: Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão of Goa and Daman was
elected as the new President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of
India (CCBI) by the 31st Plenary Assembly of the National Episcopal
Conference of India, at Joe Animation Centre, Mahabalipurm, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu.

He will replace Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay who served
the Conference as its President for three terms of two years each from 2013
to 2019.

Archbishop George Antonysamy of Chennai-Mylapore and Archbishop Anil Joseph
Thomas Couto of Delhi were re-elected CCBI Vice president and Secretary
General respectively.

Archbishop Neri, 65, was the former Vice President of the CCBI from 2011 to
2017. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman
at the age of 40, on 20 December, 1993. He was installed as the Archbishop
on 21 March, 2004. He also served the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
as its Vice President. He is presently the Chairman of the Federation of
Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Education and Faith Formation
(OEFF).

Archbishop Antonysamy, 66, held various responsibilities of the Catholic
Church in the past, viz. Pope’s Ambassador to Gambia, Liberia and Sierra
Leone; charge d’Affaires of the Vatican Embassy in Jordan. In 2012 he was
appointed the sixth Archbishop of Chennai-Mylapore Archdiocese.

The re-elected Secretary General of the CCBI Archbishop Couto (64) held
this office: he was the Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi, and Bishop of Jullundur.
At present he is the Archbishop of Delhi since 2012.

The Assembly deliberated the theme “The Joy of the Gospel” and it will
chalk out detailed programmes and action plans to revitalize the ministry
of love and compassion for the Church at the diocesan and parish levels.

The Secretaries of the 14 Commissions and the three Departments of the CCBI
presented their biennial reports of the activities for the year 2017 and
2018.

The Bishops evaluated the programmes of the CCBI Commissions of Bible,
Catechetics, Canon Law and Other Legislative Texts, Ecumenism, Family,
Laity, Liturgy, Migration, Proclamation, Theology and Doctrine, Vocations,
Women and Youth and the Departments of Pontifical Mission Organisations
(PMO), Conference of Diocesan Priests of India (CDPI) and the Association
of Rectors of Major Seminaries (ARMS).

A one day recollection for the member Bishops, directed by the well-known
theologian, Father Anil Dev, IMS from Varanasi was also conducted.

The 31st Plenary Assembly of the CCBI will conclude on 14 January. Some 143
Bishops from 132 Dioceses are attending the meeting.

The CCBI is canonically the National Episcopal Conference for the Latin
rite Catholics. It is the largest Bishops Conference in Asia and the fourth
largest in the world. It consists of 132 dioceses with 189 bishops.

ABOUT THE CCBI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_of_Catholic_Bishops_of_India
EMAIL: Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao archbp...@gmail.com
Archbishop Anil Couto ajtcout...@gmail.com or officeofarchbis...@gmail.com

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