In the light of the application of His Excellency Mar Jacob Manathodath,
the Bishop of Palghat, the XVIth Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar
Church held at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad in August 2008, after having
considered the great distance from the eparchial headquarters at Palghat
and the geographical, linguistic and cultural differences of the
faithful in both areas, unanimously gave its approval for the erection
of the eparchy of Ramanathapuram. Thus, after due consultation in the
Synod of Bishops and having obtained its consent and the assent of the
Apostolic See, and having fulfilled everything required by law, as per
the decree of 18th January 2010 with Prot. No 57/2010, His Beatitude Mar
Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar
Church, by virtue of the authority vested in him and in accordance with
CCEO c. 85#1, erected the Eparchy of Ramanathapuram, bifurcating the
eparchy of Palghat. Thus the new eparchy has its territory comprising
the four civil districts of Tamil Nadu namely, Coimbatore, Erode, Karur
and Tirupur and its See in the City of Rmanathapuram in the civil
district of Coimbatore. Fr. Paul Alappatt, a priest from the Archeparchy
of Trichur was appointed as its first Bishop the same day (Prot.
58/2010). He was ordained bishop by His Grace Mar Andrews Thazhath, the
Metropolitan Archbishop of Trichur, on the White Sunday, the 11th April
2010 at Ramanathapuram (Alvernia school ground). His Grace Mar Jacob
Thoomkuzhy, Archbishop emeritus of Trichur and His Excellency Mar Jacob
Manathodath, Bishop of Palghat were the co-consecrators in the
Ordination ceremony. The eparchy was inaugurated the same day. About
12,000 faithful including bishops, civil dignitaries, priests, religious
and laity were present on the occasion.