the goan I network
PANAJI
Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão has been elected president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), while another Goan prelate, Archbishop of Delhi Anil Couto, was re-elected secretary general of CCBI.
The CCBI, which is canonically the National Episcopal Conference for the Latin rite Catholics, is the largest Bishops Conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. It consists of 132 dioceses with 189 bishops.
In a press statement, CCBI Deputy Secretary General Fr Stephen Alathara stated that Archbishop Ferrão was elected the new CCBI president by the 31st Plenary Assembly of the National Episcopal Conference of India, at Chennai.
As many as 143 bishops from 132 dioceses are attending the 31st Plenary Assembly which will conclude on Monday.
Archbishop Ferrão will replace another senior church leader of Goan origin, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, who served the CCBI as president for three terms of two years each from 2013-19.
Archbishop of Chennai-Mylapore George Antonysamy and Archbishop of Delhi Anil Couto were re-elected as CCBI vice-president and secretary general respectively.
Archbishop Ferrão (65) was the former vice president of CCBI from 2011 to 2017. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman at the young age of 40 in 1993 and was installed as archbishop in 2004.
Archbishop Ferrão, who also served the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) as its vice president, is presently chairman of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Education and Faith Formation (OEFF).
The re-elected CCBI Secretary General, Archbishop Anil Couto (64) was previously the auxiliary bishop of Delhi and bishop of Jullundur. At present, he is the archbishop of Delhi since 2012.
Archbishop Antonysamy (66), held various responsibilities of the Catholic Church in the past, including Pope’s Ambassador to Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone; charge d’Affaires of the Vatican Embassy in Jordan. In 2012, he was appointed the 6th archbishop of Chennai-Mylapore Archdiocese.
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 activities for 2017 and 2018.
The bishops also 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 directed by the well-known theologian, Anil Dev, IMS from Varanasi was also conducted for the member bishops.
Archdiocese hails appointment
PANAJI: The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman has reacted with joy at the appointment of Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão as the new president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI). “The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman is overjoyed with this appointment and offers its archbishop most cordial and respectful felicitations, invoking God’s special blessings on his new and challenging responsibilities,” stated a news release issued by Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media Director Fr Olavo Caiado.
The Plenary Assembly of the CCBI, at which the election took place, is still in session and Archbishop Ferrão is expected to return to Goa on January 14.
