Appointment of auxiliary of Tura, India

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Tura, India, the Reverend Jose Chirackal, of the clergy of Tura, currently parish priest of Saint Luke’s Church and director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, assigning him the titular see of Acufida.

Reverend Jose Chirackal

The Reverend Jose Chirackal was born on 14 July 1960 in Karukutty, Kerala, in the major archdiocese of Syro-Malabar rite of Ernakulam-Angamaly. After his secondary studies, he left the State of Kerala and transferred to Shillong in 1976 for his ecclesiastical formation. He attended Saint Paul’s Minor Seminary, to study philosophy in Christ King College and theology in the Oriens Theological College, Shillong. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Anthony’s College. He was subsequently awarded a licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from the Urban University, Rome.

He was ordained a priest on 29 December 1987, for the diocese of Tura.

Since priestly ordination he has held the following offices: parish vicar of Saint Joseph’s Church in Selsella (1988-1991); rector of Saint Peter’s Minor Seminary in Tura (1995-2004); diocesan chancellor and bursar (2004-2009); judicial vicar and diocesan spokesperson (2004-2011); parish priest of the Mary Help of Christians Cathedral (2009-2011); rector of Oriens Theological College, archdiocese of Shillong, and secretary of the Commission for Vocations and Formation of the North East Region (2011-2014); and diocesan bursar and defender of the bond of the ecclesiastical tribunal of the diocese of Tura (2014-2019). Since July 2019 he has served as parish priest of Saint Luke’s Church, Walbakgre, Tura, and director of the Pastoral Centre.