ISVS

Emeritus Archbishop of Guwahati. From 1975 to 1981 he was the Rector of Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong. On 19 June 1981 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Bishop of the Diocese of Dibrugarh. He was consecrated by Archbishop Hubert D'Rosario on 29 November of that year. On 30 March 1992, he became Bishop of the newly established Diocese of Guwahati in India and was elevated to Archbishop on 10 July 1995 and he was appointed as the Archbishop and Metropolitan of the same ecclesiastical province. From 1986 to 1992 Menamparampil was the chairman of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences office of Evangelization. During this time, he worked primarily on deepening the relationship with different Asian cultures through evangelism and organizing a meeting between the representatives of the Church and representatives of the Communist governments. Menamparampil was later Special Secretary for the Asian Synod (1998), the author of over 180 articles on various subjects such as evangelism, culture, ministry, education, religious life and prayer. In 2006, he was elected Chair of the Regional Bishops' Conference of Northeast India. In 2008, he was elected Chair of the CBCI commission for Education and Culture. Menamparampil acted as mediator in the conflict between the various ethnic groups in the Union State of Assam and coordinates the "Joint Ecumenical Peace Team", which is committed to dialogue in Northeast India and has been proven an effective organisation at resolving local conflicts. As a social worker, he has brought into existence over 50 schools, five hospitals and an equal number of institutions related to cultural animation and social development in Assam, India. As a peacemaker during ethnic conflicts in his region, he played an active role in bringing a number of communities in tension together for dialogue. In recent years, he has been taking part in conferences related to peace, harmony, conflict resolution and inter-community relationships in India, China and Africa. Recently he has been to universities in Egypt, Turkey and Slovenia. His emphasis has been on healing of historic memories, looking at things from the opponent’s point of view and tapping the hidden longing for peace among the parties in conflict and in civil society. Archbishop Manamparampil was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. His nomination recognized his continued commitment to have peace, reconciliation and stability in Northeast India, an area full of territorial and ethnic conflicts.