Bishop's House,
Vivakananda Marg,
Baleshwar-756001,
Orissa, India
Phone: (06782)260.077
Pope Pope Francis appointed Bishop Varghese Thottamkara, C.M, as Bishop of Balasore on May 10, 2023.
Bishop Thottamkara was born on May 23, 1960, at Thottuva in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Syro Malabar Archdiocese. After finishing matriculation, he joined the minor seminary of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) in Gopalpur in July 1976.
He was ordained priest on Jan. 6, 1987, at his home parish, St. Joseph’s Church, Thottuva, by Cardinal Antony Padiyara.
In 1990, Bishop Thottamkara was sent to Ethiopia to teach in the minor seminary of the Vincentians at Ambo. In 1992, he taught in the Major Seminary at Addis Ababa as a visiting professor. In 1993, Bishop Thottamkara was transferred to Addis Ababa as the first rector of St. Paul’s Major Seminary of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte.
He also served as the judicial vicar of the Vicariates of Southern Ethiopia. He holds a licentiate in moral theology.
In 1997, he was appointed rector of the Vincentian Major Seminary at Addis Ababa. In 2003, Bishop Thottamkara was elected assistant provincial of the southern Indian province and in 2004, he was appointed rector and superior of St. Vincent’s Mission House, Aluva.
On June 28, 2013, he was appointed as coadjutor bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte in Ethiopia and was ordained on Aug. 13, 2013.
