from Elaine Fernandes
for Daijiworld Media Network - Lucknow (GA)
 
Lucknow, Jan 3: Bishop Gerald John Mathias who has recently been appointed as the 5th Bishop of Lucknow by the Pope Benedict XVI will be installed January 4, 2008 by Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay Arch diocese.

Bishop Gerald Mathias hails from Kallianpur and is the son of the late William Mathias and Martina Mathias.   He did his early schooling from St Joseph’s School, Kallianpur and high school from St Aloysius High School, Mangalore. For his priestly training he moved on to   St Paul's Minor Seminary, Lucknow and also St Charles major Seminary, Nagpur.  He was ordained a priest on April 22, 1979.

Bishop Mathias holds a Doctorate in Moral Theology from Lateran University, Rome and was a professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at St Charles ' Seminary, from 1979 to1982 and 1988 to1995. He was also the vice-Rector of St Charles Seminary from 1988 to 1994 and the parish priest of St Joseph's Cathedral, Lucknow, from June 1995 to March 2000.

He was the vice-president of the Association of Moral Theologians of India from 1994 to 2000 and was a consultor to the Doctrinal Commission of the CBCI from 1990 to 1996.

Bishop Mathias was appointed Bishop of Simla-Chandigarh on December 22, 1999 and was consecrated Bishop on April 9, 2000. He is at present the vice-chairman of the CBCI Commission for Youth and a member of the Advisory Council of Administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Bishop Mathias was transferred by Pope Benedict to Lucknow on November 8, 2007 and will be installed as the 5th Bishop of Lucknow on January 4, 2008.