An India-born priest has been ordained as a bishop in the Church of England at a ceremony held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on Tuesday.
Aged 43, Saju is now the youngest bishop in the Church of England but not the first of Indian-origin as the current Bishop of Bradwell, Bishop John Perumbalath, was also born in Kerala.
The Rt Revd Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly, known as Saju, hitherto vicar of St Mark’s Gillingham, Kent, was born in Kerala and grew up in a leprosy hospital in Bengaluru. He was consecrated by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as the next Bishop of Loughborough, in the diocese of Leicester.
Family, friends, colleagues and supporters hailing from India, Dubai and Britain gathered at the service where two others were ordained as bishops and two of Saju’s children — Zipp and Abraham — said prayers.
Welby congratulated Saju in Hindi on Twitter afterwards. In English he tweeted: “A wonderful, exciting, beautiful day for the @churchofengland — a diverse, global church brought together in the joy of Jesus Christ.”
India-born priest becomes youngest consecrated Bishop in Church of England – Times of India https://t.co/7yplRNswrf
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