The funeral of Bishop of Most Rev. Thomas Thennatt, SAC, who passed away in tragic accident, is scheduled for 11 a.m. on the 18th of December 2018 at St. Paul’s Church Morar in Gwalior.
The Bishop succumbed to the severe head injury he suffered in the accident. His Lordship was returning to the Bishop’s House after an annual function in the school where the vehicle he was travelling skidded off and overturned. He was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital and thereafter to St. Joseph Hospital, Gwalior where he was declared dead.
Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in a press release expressed sadness at the loss, “In him we have lost a true shepherd and a great human being. We entrust our beloved Brother Bishop Thennatt into the hands of the Lord and pray to him to receive him in His loving arms. We pray for comfort and consolation for the Priests, Religious and faithful of the Diocese of Gwalior in this moment of immense tragedy. Eternal Rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him!”
Bishop Thennatt was born on 26 November 1953, ordained a priest on 21st October 1978 and ordained Bishop of Gwalior on 8th January 2017. Funeral details are awaited. He was the first member of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, popularly known as Pallotines, to become a bishop in India. He was known for simplicity, humility and detachment from worldly things. The prelate was born in a family of six on November 26, 1953, at Koodallor in the Archdiocese of Kottayam in Kerala.
He began his priestly duties as assistant parish priest at St. Vincent Pallotti Parish of Amravati in Guntur diocese, Andhra Pradesh, for a year in 1979.
He served as the parish priest of St. Antony Church, Mudfort under Hyderabad archdiocese for three years from 1984. He then served as the secretary of the archdiocesan commissions of youth and family and laity.
In 1991, he moved to Indore diocese as the parish priest of St. Theresa Church of Pushpanagar and director for laity and family and Small Christian Communities. Two years later, he was appointed as regional director for laity and family Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, a post he held for five years.
He has served as pastor in states such as the undivided Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
He also served as the parish priest of St. Pius X Church Mankapur in Nagpur diocese, Maharashtra, since 2012.
Bishop Thennatt was also the director of family apostolate, youth ministry, small Christian Communities, as well as member of many commissions of his congregation He was also rector of the Regional Theologate at Ashta, Bhopal, for ten years.
For six years he was the consulter of the Prabhu Prakash Province of the Pallottines at Nagpur.
Pope Francis chose him as a bishop on October 18, 2016, when he was the parish priest of St Pius X Church in Nagpur archdiocese.