Bangalore, September 21, 2023 (CCBI): His Holiness Pope Francis has appointed Fr Lourdu Anandam (65), of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Madurai, currently parish priest of the Holy Rosary as the third Bishop of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Fr Lourdu Anandam was born on 15 August 1958 in Thiruvarangam, in the Diocese of Sivagangai. After studying philosophy at Arul Anandar College in Madurai and theology at St. Paul’s Seminary in Tiruchirappalli, he obtained a doctorate in systematic theology from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany). He was ordained a priest on 6 April 1986 for the Archdiocese of Madurai.
He held the following positions: Secretary to the Archbishop of Madurai (1986-1989); parish priest of Sacred Heart, Kodaikanal (1995-1999); Professor of Theology at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Chennai (1999-2004); Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic weekly Nam Vazhvu – A Tamil Catholic Weekly in Chennai (2004-2011); Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in Madurai (2011-2014). From 2014 until now he has been Parish Priest of the Holy Rosary, Vicar Forane of the Madurai South Vicariate, Director of the Pastoral Center and Coordinator of the Archdiocesan Commissions.
Pope St John Paul II on 3 July 1987 erected of the diocese of Sivagangai bifurcating it from the Madurai archdiocese. The territory of the diocese includes two civil districts Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai. The Sivagangai diocese stretches from the Madurai district border to the Bay of Bengal and it has a long coast in the East and South East measuring 265 kilometers.
St. John de Britto (1693), entered the region as a Jesuit missionary from Europe and became the bedrock of faith for thousands of people. He was beheaded at Oriyur on February 4, 1693. The Catholic population is 1, 82,150, parishes 82, diocesan priests 98, religious priests 79, religious sisters 453.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara
Deputy Secretary General, CCBI