Abbreviation | CBCI |
---|---|
Formation | September 1944 |
Type | Permanent association of bishops |
Legal status | Civil nonprofit |
Purpose | To support the ministry of bishops |
Headquarters | New Delhi |
Region served | India |
Membership | Active and retired Catholic bishops of India |
Secretary General | Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado |
President | Archbishop Andrews Thazhath |
Vice President I | Archbishop George Antonysamy |
Vice President II | Bishop Joseph Mar Thomas |
Affiliations | Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences |
Website | cbci |
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) is the permanent association of the Catholic bishops of India. [1] It was established in September 1944, in Chennai. The CBCI Secretariat was located in Bangalore until 1962, when it was shifted to the national capital, New Delhi. The CBCI is a member of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.
The CBCI is technically not an episcopal conference as prescribed in canon 447 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law; that role is fulfilled by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. Rather, the CBCI is similar to the 'assembly of bishops' described in 322§2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.[ citation needed ]
Pope John Paul II in a letter in 1987 directed the Latin Church, Syro-Malabar Church, and Syro-Malankara Catholic Church to set up their own bishops' conferences. Nevertheless, the CBCI is the face of the Catholic Church in India and addresses the Church's "questions of common concern and of a national and supra-ritual character", while the episcopal body that heads each particular church deals with internal issues. [2] [3]
The statutes of the CBCI were approved by the Holy See on 21 April 1976, [4] and were revised in 1996 by the CBCI. [3]
The ordinary members of the CBCI comprises all diocesan and eparchial bishops in India and those considered equal to them by canon law, as well as co-adjutor and auxiliary Bishops, and other titular Bishops performing a special work in India entrusted to them by the Apostolic See or by the Conference. Retired bishops and other titular bishops, not ordinary members of the Conference, and residing in India, are honorary members of the Conference. As of February 2014, the CBCI had around 180 members and 59 honorary members and it serves 167 dioceses.
The objectives of the CBCI are to facilitate coordinated study and discussion of questions affecting the Church, and adoption of a common policy and effective action in matters concerning the common interests of the Catholic Church in India. The CBCI reviews the position of the Church in India, and also undertakes a variety of activities covering, for example, the youth, health care and media. Another role of the CBCI is to foster the communion among the three sui juris Churches. The CBCI is the face of the Catholic Church in India promotes advocacy on national issues, makes representation to Government, liaises with the Government and networks with other Christian Churches, organizations, associations of civil society and people of other religions. [1]
The CBCI is at the service of the different episcopal conferences of three rites and the 13 regional councils of bishops. [5]
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church possessing self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. It is one of the major archiepiscopal churches of the Catholic Church. It is headed by Major Archbishop Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos of the Major Archdiocese of Trivandrum based in Kerala, India. With more than 1096 parishes, its one of India's biggest church evangelical establishments.
The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, including the Latin Church and the 22 other Eastern Catholic Churches, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The Church is headed by the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar, Raphael Thattil. The Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops canonically convoked and presided over by the Major Archbishop constitutes the supreme authority of the church. The Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the church is based in Kakkanad, Kochi. Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac Rite liturgy and origins in Malabar. The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.
In the Catholic Church, an apostolic visitor is a papal representative with a transient mission to perform a canonical visitation of relatively short duration. The visitor is deputed to investigate a special circumstance in a diocese or country, and to submit a report to the Holy See at the conclusion of the investigation.
In the Eastern Catholic Churches, major archbishop is a title for the chief hierarch of an autonomous particular Church that has not been "endowed with the patriarchal title". Major archbishops generally have the same rights, privileges, and jurisdiction as Eastern Catholic patriarchs, except where expressly provided otherwise, and rank immediately after them in precedence of honor.
The Archeparchy of Changanacherry is a Syro-Malabar Catholic archeparchy with an area of 24,595 km2 comprising the districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and also Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in India in terms of area. Joseph Perumthottam is the current Metropolitan Archbishop, serving since 2007. Thomas Tharayil has been the auxiliary bishop since 2017. Suffragan eparchies of the Changanassery archeparchy includes Palai, Kanjirappally-Nilackal, and Thuckalay-Thiruvithancode.
Mar Antony Padiyara was a Syro Malabar Major Archbishop and cardinal. He was the First Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. He was Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly from 1985 to 1996, having previously served as Bishop of Ootacamund (1955–1970) and Archbishop of Changanassery (1970–1985). He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1988.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Ujjain is a Syro-Malabar eparchy in India, part of the rite-specific the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is a Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and part of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch and All the East as supreme head of the church. It functions autonomously within the church as an Archdiocese, administered by the Metropolitan Trustee, under the authority of the Maphrian of India, Baselios Thomas I. Following schism with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, it is currently the only church in Malankara that is under the administrative supervision of Syriac Orthodox Church. The church employs the West Syriac Rite Liturgy of Saint James.
Baselios Cleemis is the current major archbishop-catholicos of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. He was named to the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI on 24 November 2012.
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy of Bathery is an eparchy of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Sulthan Bathery, in Kerala, India. As of 2013 Aboon Joseph Mar Thomas was the bishop. The seat of the eparchy is at St. Thomas Syro-Malankara Catholic Cathedral in Sulthan Bathery.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council is a permanent association of the Catholic bishops in Kerala. Headquartered in Kochi, it is an association of three rites of the Catholic Church - the Roman / Latin, the Syro Malabar and the Syro Malankara. The stated objectives of KCBC are to facilitate, co-ordinate, study and discuss questions affecting the Church, and to adopt a common policy and effective action in all matters concerning the Church in Kerala.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India or CCBI, is the national episcopal conference of the bishops of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in India, functioning in accordance with canon 447. There are 132 Latin Catholic dioceses in the country, and 190 active and retired bishops are the members of the CCBI. This is the largest bishops' conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. The CCBI is a member of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.
The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) is an association of episcopal conferences of Catholic Church in South, Southeast, East and Central Asia. The federation fosters solidarity and joint responsibility for the welfare of the Church and of society in the region.
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy of Puthur , the first Syro-Malankara Catholic diocese in India's southern Karnataka, is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Syro-Malankara Catholic Archeparchy of Tiruvalla, which depends on the Major Archbishop of Trivandrum, the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and with it on the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
An ecclesiastical region is a formally organised geographical group of dioceses, ecclesiastical provinces or parishes, without a proper Ordinary as such, in Catholic or Protestant Churches.