Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 14 ( BPNS)
A Keralite priest who was brought up in a Leprosy hospital in Bengaluru owing to his mother being a nurse at the hospital is now the next Bishop of Loughborough in the United Kingdom. The 42-year-old who will be consecrated as a Bishop in January 2022 will be the youngest Bishop of the Church of England. A Downing street announcement on November 12, 2021, stated that Queen Elizabeth II has approved his appointment.
The priest, Rev Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly ( known as Saju among friends and family) is the Vicar of St Mark’s, Gillingham in the diocese of Rochester in England.
Father Lukose Varghese was ordained in the Church of England in 2008 and has served at St. Marks for six years after curacies in the dioceses of Blackburn and Carlisle.
While speaking to BPNS, Rev Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly said,” It is an honour and joy to be invited to become the next Bishop of Loughborough and I am looking forward to getting to know the people of Leicestershire.”
He adds,” My priorities in ministry are profoundly relational. If I have felt anointed anything, it is informing friendships, gathering God’s people, and creating hospitable and loving spaces in which people can grow in faith, hope, justice, and love.”
The Bishop-elect also said, “ I have a deep desire for the flourishing of all people particularly the poor, those at the margins of our world”.
He said that poor people are not just poor people but mothers, artists, gifted leaders, and friends who are passionate about the environment.
The Bishop-elect was brought up in a Syrian Orthodox Church in Kerala that traces its root to St Thomas the Apostle who is believed to have brought the gospel to the region in the first century.
Rev. Lukose Varghese Muthalaly studied at Southern Asia Bible college in Bengaluru and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
He is also an avid cricketer and is currently the captain of the Rochester and Canterbury diocesan cricket team and is married to Katy and has four children.
