Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry
Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry was born on the 11th of September,1928 at Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam District. He was ordained priest on the 21st of December,1955 in Rome. He received doctorate in Civil and Canon Laws from the University of Lateran in Rome and Master’s degree in Politics from USA. He was nominated bishop of Kepha and appointed Co-Adjutor Bishop of Kottayam on 9th December 1967. On February 24,1968 he received Episcopal Ordination at Sacred Heart Mount, Kottayam from His Eminence Cardinal Maximillian de Furstenberg, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. At the retirement of Mar Thomas Tharayil, he took charge of the Diocese of Kottayam on the 5th of May,1974. In addition to Malayalam and English he knows Italian, Latin, French, German and Syriac. He has served the regional, national and Universal Church in various capacities. He was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches and a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter- religious Dialogue. He served as the Chairman of the Ecumenical and Inter-religious Dialogue Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India several times.
He was the Chairman of the St Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye and is now the Chairman of the St Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor and Vice Chancellor of the Paurastiya Vidya-pitham, Vadavathoor. He has held offices in the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council and the Syro-Malabar Bishops' Conference. He was a member of permanent synod of the Syro-Malabar Archiepiscopal Church and member of commission for Ecumenism and particular law.
By the decree “God our loving father” dated May 9, 2005, the Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil appointed Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the first metropolitan of the newly erected metropolitan see of Kottayam. On June 3, 2005 Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil ordained and enthroned Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the Metropolitan of Kottayam at a liturgical service in Christ the King Cathedral, Kottayam.