His Excellency Mar Paul Alapatt
He was born as the sixth child and the second son of Mr. Varunny & Mrs. Eliakutty Alappatt Mecherippady at Edathiruthy in the present eparchy of Irinjalakuda on 21st April 1962. He belongs to the parish Porathur in the Archeparchy of Trichur. After his primary education at GLPS Alappad, SNMUPS Chazhoor and GHS Peringottukara he joined St. Marys Minor Seminary, Thope, Thrissur on 19th June 1977 for priestly formation. After his Minor seminary formation he was sent to St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Kottayam for his Philosophical and Theological formation. During his regency period he had graduation from Osmania University, AP. He was ordained priest by the late Metropolitan Archbishop of Trichur Mar Joseph Kundukulam on 27th December 1987. After four years of priestly ministry in the parishes (Mattam, Pudussery, Parannur, Puthur and Mundur), eparchial minor seminary and bishop's house he was sent to Rome for specialization in the Eastern Canon Law at Pontifical Oriental Institute. On 12th March 1997 he defended his doctoral thesis "The Election of Patriarch in the Eastern Catholic Canonical Tradition". He also secured diploma in jurisprudence from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.After having come back to the Archeaprchy he did the following ministries:
- Vice Chancellor in the Archeparchial Curia & Judge (1997- 2010),
- Adj. Judicial Vicar (1999-2001) of the Metropolitan Tribunal Trichur,
- Chancellor (1998-2007) & the Director of the Public Relations of the Archdiocese (2002-2007),
- Member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council (1998-2007),
- Member of the Core and Advisory committees of St. Thomas College Thrissur;
- Rector of the Minor Seminary (2007-2010),
- Judicial Vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal Trichur (2001-2010),
- Judge of the Major Archiepiscopal Ordinary Tribunal Kakkanad (2005-2010),
- Archdiocesan Vocation Director (2007-2010),
- Member of the Archdiocesan College of Consultors (1998-2010),
- Convenor of the Archdiocesan Statutes committee (2002-2009);
- Vice President of the Administrative Tribunal of the Archeparchy (1998-2010),
- President of the Commission for Interprepation of the Archdiocesan Legislative Texts (2009-2010),
- Promoter of Justice for the Cause of the Servant of God Augustine John Ukken (2009-2010),
- Promotor of Justice for the Cause of the Servant of God Fr. Joseph Vithayathil,
- Promoter of Justice for the Investigation of the Tomb of the Ven. Euphrasia,
- Convenor of the Palliyogam statutes & Shrine committees,
- Visiting Lecturer at Marymatha Major Seminary Thrissur etc.
While he was serving as the Rector of the Minor seminary and the Judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archeparchy of Trichur he was nominated bishop of the newly erected eparchy of Ramanathapuram on 18th January 2010. He was ordained bishop on the white Sunday, 11th April 2010 at Alvernia school ground, Coimbatore.
His vision of life is "Be faithful to the vocation and a man of convictions ". The motto of his Episcopal ministry is "My grace is sufficient for you "(II Cor. 12:9).