Bijnor: Retired Bishop of Bijnor Diocese Mar John Vadakkel CMI has decided to serve as the parish vicar for the rest of his life. He retired from the episcopate last year and decided to serve as the parish vicar of his own free will. The former bishop will serve as the vicar of St. Thomas Church in Kathmandu and the director of the adjoining CMI Ashram. He had expressed interest in serving as the parish priest to Mar Vincent Nellayipparambil, who took over as the new Bishop in November last year. The appointment follows this. He said that when the church was in crisis, he returned to the priestly ministry to inspire believers and to bear the bold witness of Christ.
Born in Kothamangalam in 1943, he was ordained on December 19, 1975 in Tirupati. Since then he has been active in the pastoral care of Bijnor. When Mar Gracias Mundaton resigned in 2009, Mar Vadakkel was his Vicar General. He retired last year from the ten-year pastoral mission of the Bijnor Diocese, which spans Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Bishop Sebastianappan Singarayan, who retired from the diocese of Salem in March, took a similar decision. The 68-year-old is currently serving as a co-pastor at the Annai Velankanni Church in Karpur, on the outskirts of Salem.
