Etawah Mission (1 May, 1975)

Etawah Mission, formerly known as the Agra Mission, is the north Indian missionary outreach of the Archeparchy of Changanacherry. Founded in 1975 Etawah Mission was a response to a long cherished desire of the Catholic Church in India expressed in the CBCI meeting of Kolkata that dioceses and religious congregations from South which are rich in vocations may be requested to take up mission territories in North where the missions were facing a shortage of personnel.

As an answer to these twin desires that Most Rev. Dr. Dominic Athaide, then Archbishop of Agra offered the Archeparchy of Changanacherry, territories for mission work. Mar Antony Padiyara, then Archbishop of Changanacherry himself a missionary gladly accepted the invitation and sent his priests and religious to the area entrusted to the Archeparchy.

The areas entrusted to our care were very backward and criminal in nature. The pioneer missionaries felt that education will be a very effective means of evangelization. Consequently the educational apostolate of the mission was developed in the districts of Etawah, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Auraiya and Firozabad.

On 9 Oct 2017 Holy Father Pope Francis through "The Letter to the Bishops of India" accorded all India Jurisdiction for the Syro Malabar Church. Consequently the Syro Malabar faithful of Etawah mission became part of the newly formed eparchy of Shamsabad. A contract was solemnly signed on 24 February 2018 at Changanacherry and Very Rev. Dr. James Palackal was appointed Vicar General of Etawah Mission for Shamsabad eparchy.

Jaipur Mission (02 June, 2015)

The Archeparchy of Changanacherry has been very faithful to the divine missionary call and the most recent chapter in her missionary journey is the opening of the St. Mary's Syro Malabar Mission in the state of Rajasthan. St. Mary's Syro Malabar Mission in Rajasthan is the result of the missionary and pastoral collaboration between the newly erected eparchy of Shamshabad and the archeparchy of Changanacherry, comprising the 12 civil districts of Rajasthan – Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa, Dhaulpur, Karuli, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Bundi, Kota, Baran and Jhalawar.

The official signing of the contract between the archeparchy of Changanacherry and the eparchy of Shamshabad took place on April 24, 2019 at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanadu. Very Rev. Dr. James Palackal was appointed Vicar General of the Etawah and Jaipur missions and Mission Superior of Jaipur mission.

Rev. Fr. Sebastian Souriamakil came to Jaipur on June 2, 2015 and was able to form a Syro Malabar community in the city of Jaipur. On 20 February 2022 Holy Family Syro Malabar Church was consecrated.

District-wise Population Distribution

Virudhunagar Mission (31 May, 2019)

The territorial jurisdiction of the eparchy of Changanacherry got extended from the Pampa River in the State of Kerala to the South upto Kanyakumari in the State of Tamil Nadu on April 29, 1955 by Pope Pius XII. With this extension from 1960 onwards many young priests, religious and laity of the Archeparchy volunteered to devote themselves in the evangelization works in Kanyakumari Mission.

As a result, on November 11, 1996 Archeparchy of Changanacherry was bifurcated establishing Eparchy of Thuckalay. Again, on October 10, 2017 Pope Francis extended the territory of the Eparchy of Thuckalay comprising 9 civil districts. As per invitation from the Bishop of Thuckalay, the Archeparchy of Changanacherry decided to undertake Virudhunagar Mission and sent Rev. Fr. Peter Kizhakkeyil. This new mission was inaugurated on May 30, 2019, on the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Fr. Joseph Keeranchira was appointed in 2022. On 03 April 2022 St. Joseph Syro Malabar Catholic Church was consecrated.

Mission Stations

• Kovilpatti, St. Joseph's Mission, Melachinnayapuram
• Inam Rettiapatti

Foreign Countries

Services of our Rev. Priests in Foreign Countries

Adopted