St. Peter’s Church bids farewell to its popular vicar Fr. Paul Mathew  who will be leaving Bahrain at the end of this month.He is returning back to his hometown in Kerala after completing his two-year term to take charge as parish priest under Kollam Diocese.

“Thank you for your love which I feel deeply;   I really have enjoyed my stay  here,” said Fr. Paul. “Bahrain is  very special in many ways and I shall miss all my friends here. God bless you.”“I also wish to thank His Majesty and his government for the very friendly  and cordial policies that helped various religions and faiths to peacefully co-exist in the Kingdom of Bahrain” said Fr. Paul.

 

He is being replaced by Fr. Thomas Nediyapalackal who arrived at Bahrain on 10 February 2010. Fr. Thomas who hails from Thrissur, Kerala is well conversant in Malayalam, English, Kannada, Hindi, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and Biblical Studies from Serampore University, Bangalore. He also has B.A. and B.Ed. academic degrees  having completed studies from Calicut and Bangalore Universities respectively. Before being posted to Bahrain, Fr. Thomas served as parish priest at St.Thomas Church, Mumbai and St. Mary’s Church, Mangalam Dam, Kerala.  He was ordained as priest on 1 June 1996.

A special event is being organized  to bid farewell to the outgoing vicar Fr. Paul  and to welcome Fr. Thomas,  at the Church premises, Salmaniya on Friday the 12 February 2010 at 11.00 am.   HE Dr. George Joseph, the Ambassador of India, will be the Chief Guest at the event.