Joseph Ponniah

Right Reverend Joseph Ponniah (born 12 October 1952) is a Sri Lanka Tamil priest and the current Roman Catholic Bishop of Batticaloa.[1]

Rt Rev.

Joseph Ponniah
Bishop of Batticaloa
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ProvinceColombo
DioceseBatticaloa
Installed3 July 2012
Personal details
Born (1952-10-12) 12 October 1952
Thannamunai, Ceylon
Alma materUniversity of Jaffna

Early life

Ponniah was born on 12 October 1952 in Thannamunai in eastern Ceylon.[2][3] He was educated at St. Joseph's Minor Seminary and St. Joseph's College, Trincomalee.[4][5] He has Bachelor of Philosophy degree from St. Paul Seminary, Thiruchirapally and a Bachelor of Theology from the National Seminary, Poonah.[4][5] Ponniah also has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Peradeniya, a Licentiate in Biblical Theology degree from the Pontifical Urbaniana University (1993) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Christian civilization from the University of Jaffna.[4][6][7]

Career

Ponniah was ordained as a priest in April 1980.[2][3] He was parish priest at St. Mary's Co-Cathedral, Batticaloa (1980–82), Vaharai, Veechchu Kalmunai and Ayhiyamalai.[4][7] He was rector at the Minor Seminar, Batticaloa (1993–96) before teaching Pauline theology as professor of holy scriptures at the National Seminary, Ampitiya (1996-01).[4][5][7] He was then parish priest in Thandavanveli (2001–06) and vicar general for the Diocese of Trincomalee-Batticaloa (2006–08).[4][7] He has also lectured at the Eastern University, Sri Lanka.[6] In February 2008 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa and was ordained as a bishop in May 2008.[2][3] He was appointed Bishop of Batticaloa in July 2012.[2][3]

References
  1. "Batticaloa". Pontifical Mission Societies - Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  2. "Bishop Joseph Ponniah". Catholic Hierarchy.
  3. "Bishop Ponniah". Union of Catholic Asian News. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  4. "New Auxillary [sic] Bishop appointed for East". TamilNet. 26 February 2008.
  5. Perera, Nimal. I. (21 February 2008). "New bishop in Trinco-Batticaloa: "hope" beyond the war". AsiaNews.
  6. "Rev. Fr. Ponniah Joseph new Auxiliary Bishop, Trinco-Batticaloa Diocese". Daily News (Sri Lanka). 29 May 2008.
  7. "A new, Tamil diocese on Sri Lanka's eastern seashore". AsiaNews. 25 September 2012.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.