India-born priest becomes youngest consecrated Bishop in Church of England

LONDON: An India-born priest has been ordained as a bishop in the Church of England at a ceremony held at St Paul's Cathedral in London on Tuesday.
Aged 43, Saju is now the youngest bishop in the Church of England but not the first of Indian-origin as the current Bishop of Bradwell, Bishop John Perumbalath, was also born in Kerala.
The Rt Revd Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly, known as Saju, hitherto vicar of St Mark’s Gillingham, Kent, was born in Kerala and grew up in a leprosy hospital in Bengaluru.He was consecrated by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as the next Bishop of Loughborough, in the diocese of Leicester.
Family, friends, colleagues and supporters hailing from India, Dubai and Britain gathered at the service where two others were ordained as bishops and two of Saju’s children — Zipp and Abraham — said prayers.
Welby congratulated Saju in Hindi on Twitter afterwards. In English he tweeted: “A wonderful, exciting, beautiful day for the @churchofengland — a diverse, global church brought together in the joy of Jesus Christ.”
His parents live in Kollam, Kerala. “Our father said God has given him an opportunity to serve beyond boundaries and he should use it well. Our parents — aged 90 and 83 — missed the chance to witness the ceremony due to the pandemic,” said his brother Siji Malayil, a lawyer in the Karnataka high court.
As Suffragan Bishop, Saju will share oversight of the diocese with the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow. Snow said: “Leicester can be rightly proud of our track record of gifting to the wider church bishops who represent different ethnic groups and will help the church to reflect the fullness of life in Christ."
Saju, who now carries a bishop’s staff made of Indian rosewood, will be officially installed as Bishop of Loughborough at a service at Brockington Church of England Academy in Enderby, Leicestershire, on February 5. The event will be live-streamed on YouTube.
He was born on the Kerala backwaters to a Syrian Orthodox Church family who trace their spiritual and cultural lineage back to St Thomas the Apostle. He said his priorities are people-focused and helping the poor and marginalised flourish.
He said: “I spent much of my childhood in a leprosy hospital in Bengaluru where my mother was a nurse serving some of the most ostracised and rejected groups in the world. From my earliest memory, my heart has bent towards those who live in poverty. Poor people aren’t just poor people; they are mothers, artists, gifted leaders, friends, people who are passionate about the environment.”
He will have oversight for intercultural communities and racial equity strategy as well as priest vocations.
Muthalaly moved to Loughborough just before Christmas with his wife Katy, who he met on a gap year in England, and their four children. “I am never more at home than when I am with Katy, our children, and our eclectic collection of pets," he said. “I am also joyfully at home when I am playing the beautiful game of cricket. I carry this conviction that the game of cricket is the most beautiful contribution the English have made to the world.” He also enjoys running, playing the guitar and cooking.
After attending Cambridge school in Vijayanagara, he went on to do his PU (Arts) at Christ PU College in 1996, after which he attended the Southern Asia Bible College in Bengaluru and trained for the ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained priest in 2009.
He left for England at the age of 20. “He could have left for England in his late teen years itself… He was an ethnic minority there... He is a self-made man, he built his own career and is thus an inspiration to us. The process (consecration) is a lengthy one at the end of which the British Prime Minister takes a call. It is a proud moment for all of us,” Siji, his brother, said.
Muthalaly grew up in Bengaluru in the 1980s and ’90s and lived with his parents, elder brother and sister in HBR Layout “Spirituality was part of our lives, like any other family. It was more a way of life and a matter of discipline with Sunday Mass and Sunday school. We were taught values,” Siji said.
(With inputs from Bengaluru)