Two Goan bishops have been elected to key posts in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), while another Goan bishop has been re-elected as chairman of Caritas India.
PANAJI
While Bishop of Ranchi Theodore Mascarenhas, who hails from Camurlim-Salcete, has been elected as the new CBCI secretary general, Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao was also re-elected as Vice President II of the conference.
The elections took place during 32nd Plenary Assembly of CBCI at St John’s Medical College Campus, Bangalore, from March 2 to 9, which was attended by 180 Bishops from all dioceses of India.
According to a press release from CBCI, the bishops also re-elected Cardinal Baselios Cleemis as president for a second term of two years.
Bishop Mascarenhas replaces Archbishop Albert D’Souza of Agra, who served as CBCI Secretary General for the last six years.
The bishops at their March 8 proceedings also re-elected Cardinal Baselios Cleemis as president for a second term of two years, while Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur was also re-elected as Vice President I of the conference.
The week-long plenary of the conference re-elected Bishop Lumen Monteiro, who hails from Calangute, as chairman of Caritas India for a term of four years.
The CBCI, the apex body of the Catholic Church in India, holds the Plenary Assembly once in two years to discuss the various aspects of the life of the Church in India, and specially the challenges it faces, and to evolve common action to revitalise the Church and to render the Church more effective in its service to the members and to the society at large.
