Bishop Lawrence Mar Ephraem of Marthandom dies less than three months after taking over new diocese

Bishop Lawrence Mar Ephraem of Marthandom died of brain hemorrhage on April 8, less than three months after being installed as ordinary of the newly formed Syro-Malankara diocese. He was 69.

Bishop Ephraem, former secretary general of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of India (CBCI), slipped into a coma a week after his installation on Jan. 23.

Marthandom, in Tamil Nadu state, is the first Syro-Malankara diocese outside the adjoining southern state of Kerala, the Oriental Church´s base. The diocese is in Kanniyakumari district at India´s southernmost tip.

The late prelate had been auxiliary bishop of Trivandrum Syro-Malankara archdiocese since 1980 and was made bishop of Marthandom when it was carved out of the Malankara Church´s only metropolitan see in December 1996.

Bishop Ephraem was an “unchallenged leader of the oppressed and poor,” said Father John Vallamattom, CBCI public relations officer.

During his two terms as CBCI secretary general from 1990-1994, Bishop Ephraem “always spoke for the dalits (of low-caste ancestry), neglected women, and unorganized people,” Father Vallamattom told UCA News.

Rajendra Babu, a lay leader in Marthandom, said the bishop´s “death is a great loss and disappointment” for Catholics in the new diocese that suffers from socio-economic underdevelopment.

Most Catholics in Marthandom are from the Nadar community, one of the lower sub-castes in Hinduism. Bishop Ephraem worked in the region for more than 20 years implementing several development projects.

“He was a pastorally concerned bishop with much humanitarian concern,” said Father Maria Arputham, a diocesan priest.

Latin Rite Bishop Leon A. Tharmaraj of Kottar, with which Marthandom shares its territory, said Bishop Ephraem “always prioritized communal and religious harmony” in the communally sensitive Kanniyakumari region.

CBCI deputy secretary general Father George Pereira said Bishop Ephraem´s being always “a soft but wise man” stood him well as secretary general.

“He was a far-sighted man, who did things with ultimate accuracy, keeping in mind the good of the Church and welfare of the nation,” Father Pereira said.

Several socio-political leaders in Kerala and Tamil Nadu attended the three-hour funeral service April 9 in Marthandom.

Following Malankara Church custom, the body was seated on a chair and taken around the town in a symbolical farewell to his people and territory.

After the procession, the body was brought to a prepared crypt inside the cathedral and the main celebrant bid farewell to the cathedral and its people on behalf of Bishop Ephraem.

The bishop was entombed in the seated posture, a tradition symbolizing Jesus´ promise that the Apostles, whose successors are the bishops, will sit on the throne of judgment at the end of time, according to Church sources.

Many laypeople, Religious and clergy from Trivandrum attended the funeral.