Kerala-born Father Francis Kolencherry, has been appointed as the first National Coordinator in Australia for the Syro-Malabar Rite of the Catholic Church. The appointment was made by Archbishop Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
The National Coordinator is an important liaison between the various Syro-Malabar migrant communities in the practice of their faith and traditions, with responsibility to oversee and administer their pastoral needs and to forge links between them and the Catholic Church in Australia/Syro-Malabar Church in India.
Fr Francis is the Administrator of St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra, and will undertake his new role in conjunction with his current duties, a media statement says.
Born and educated in India’s south and ordained in December 1980, Fr Kolencherry spent 12 years working as the Executive Director of Catholic charities in his parent Archdiocese of Ernakulam - Angamaly, India, working with tens of thousands of underprivileged people, specifically to improve their quality of life.
He was also the Executive Director for India’s nation-wide ‘Save a Family Plan’ which saw Canadian families sponsor the poorest Indian families in a bid to improve their standard of living.
He was founding president of an ambitious plan to reorganise orphanages in his home state of Kerala which resulted in vast improvements for the children in respect to food, clothing, shelter and their education.
“We had 798 orphanages containing some 44,000 children belonging to the poor families. In creating this forum, we could improve their quality of life by securing rights for them from the government.”
Fr Kolencherry’s appointment to the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese follows a four-year Pastoral ministry in Manhattan, USA.
“One of the key priorities is to educate children in the Catholic Faith in accordance with the Syro-Malabar tradition. This will help to ensure their native language and cultural traditions will survive to the next generation,” Fr Kolencherry said.
“It will provide migrants with an important link to their Indian heritage, at the same time allowing them to fully integrate with Australian society.”
SIC: CTHAS