In the light of the application of His Excellency Mar Jacob Manathodath, the Bishop of Palghat, the XVIth Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church held at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad in August 2008, after having considered the great distance from the eparchial headquarters at Palghat and the geographical, linguistic and cultural differences of the faithful in both areas, unanimously gave its approval for the erection of the eparchy of Ramanathapuram. Thus, after due consultation in the Synod of Bishops and having obtained its consent and the assent of the Apostolic See, and having fulfilled everything required by law, as per the decree of 18th January 2010 with Prot. No 57/2010, His Beatitude Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, by virtue of the authority vested in him and in accordance with CCEO c. 85#1, erected the Eparchy of Ramanathapuram, bifurcating the eparchy of Palghat. Thus the new eparchy has its territory comprising the four civil districts of Tamil Nadu namely, Coimbatore, Erode, Karur and Tirupur and its See in the City of Rmanathapuram in the civil district of Coimbatore. Fr. Paul Alappatt, a priest from the Archeparchy of Trichur was appointed as its first Bishop the same day (Prot. 58/2010). He was ordained bishop by His Grace Mar Andrews Thazhath, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Trichur, on the White Sunday, the 11th April 2010 at Ramanathapuram (Alvernia school ground). His Grace Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhy, Archbishop emeritus of Trichur and His Excellency Mar Jacob Manathodath, Bishop of Palghat were the co-consecrators in the Ordination ceremony. The eparchy was inaugurated the same day. About 12,000 faithful including bishops, civil dignitaries, priests, religious and laity were present on the occasion.