New Delhi, Jan 28 (IndiaToday) – An India-born priest has been consecrated as a Bishop in the Church of England. Reverend Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly, known as Saju, is the youngest Bishop in the Church of England.
Saju, 42, will be the next Bishop of Loughborough. He was consecrated with a staff, or crozier, made of Indian rosewood, during a Eucharist service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London by the Archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday.
Saju’s recommendation was made by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson following which he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II.
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“I have been preparing for this service very much aware of what a great privilege it is that people around the world are praying for this moment. There is a very strong sense of the wider church affirming this calling,” PTI quoted Saju as saying.
The ceremony was attended by two of Saju’s four children — Zipp and Abraham — who joined him for prayers during the service.
Who is Reverend Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly?
According to a report in PTI, Saju spent his childhood in Kerala and Bengaluru. He grew up in a leprosy hospital in Bengaluru where his mother was a nurse. He did his education at the Southern Asia Bible College in Bengaluru, and trained for the ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
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Saju has now spent 21 years in England, where he arrived during a gap year. He currently serves as a Vicar at St Mark’s, Gillingham and St Mary’s Island in the Diocese of Rochester, a role which he assumed in 2019. Before this, he was a Priest-in-Charge at the Diocese.
Previously, Saju served his title at St Thomas’, Lancaster, in the Diocese of Blackburn and was ordained Priest in the Church of England in 2009. He Saju was appointed Associate Vicar at St Thomas’, Kendal, and St Catherine’s, Crook, in the Diocese of Carlisle, North-West England, in 2011.
Saju has four children — aged between 8-12 years — with his wife Katy.
Saju will be formally installed and known as Bishop of Loughborough on February 5 after a Welcome Service with guests and representatives of the diocese at Brockington Church of England Academy in Enderby, Leicestershire.
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(With inputs from PTI)
