Father Lourdu Anandam (65), a priest from the Archdiocese of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, was elected as the Third Bishop of the Sivgangai Diocese in Tamil Nadu, on September 21.
Archbishop Antony Pappusamy of Madurai read the official announcement of the appointment of a new Bishop of Sivagangai Diocese at the Archbishop’s Chapel at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, South India.
Currently, Father Anandam is a parish priest at the Holy Rosary Church in the Archdiocese of Madurai, South India.
On August 15, 1958, Father Anandam was born in Thiruvarangam, a city in the Diocese of Sivagangai in south India.
In 1979 and 1981, he studied philosophy at Arul Anandar College in Madurai.
From 1982 to 1986, he studied theology at St. Paul's Seminary in Tiruchirappalli, and from 1987 to 1988 he earned a Master's Degree from Madurai Kamaraj University, India.
On April 6, 1986, the Archdiocese of Madurai ordained him a priest after he obtained a doctorate in systematic theology from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany) between 1990 and 1994.
He held the following positions:
He was a Secretary to the Archbishop of Madurai from 1986 to 1989 and the parish priest of Sacred Heart, Kodaikanal from 1995 to 1999.
He served as a Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean of Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Chennai from 1999 to 2004 and he worked as Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic weekly Nam Vazhvu – A Tamil Catholic Weekly in Chennai from 2004 to 2011.
From 2011 to 22014 he was forming the seminarians as a Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in Madurai.
Then he served as Manager of the Nobili Book of the Madurai Archdiocese Centre from 2015 to 2016.
At the same time from 2014 to 2017, he served as Vice President of the Indian Theological Association (ITA).
From 2018 to 2019 he served as a Professor at Madia Predessh Regional Seminary in Bhopal as well as a professor at CRI Theological Institute of Bangalore, India.
From 2015 to 2019 he was Director of the Pastoral Centre and Coordinator of the Archdiocesan Commissions.
From 2019 until now, he has been Parish Priest of the Holy Rosary, Vicar Forane of the Madurai South Vicariate.
The diocese of Sivagangai was formed by Pope John Paul II on July 3, 1987, which was divided from the Madurai archdiocese. It covers the two civil districts of Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai.
There are 265 km of coast in the East and South East of Sivagangai Diocese, which stretches from the border with Madurai district to the Bay of Bengal.
In 1693, St. John de Britto came to the region as a Jesuit missionary from Europe and became the bedrock of thousands' faith. On February 4, 1693, he was beheaded at Oriyur.
It has 1,82,150 Catholics, 82 parishes, 98 diocesan priests, 79 religious priests, and 453 religious sisters.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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