New pastor installed at Highland Lakes parish

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney installed Father Babu Thelappilly as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima (OLF) Parish in the Highland Lakes neighborhood of Vernon during a Mass in the church on Feb. 17.

Born and raised in the Syro-Malabar Roman Catholic Church in India, he was ordained to the priesthood on May 24, 2008, by the late Archbishop John J. Myers of the Newark Archdiocese.

In the Paterson Diocese, Father Thelappilly served as rector and novice master of the seminary of the Vocationist Fathers in Florham Park. He also served the following parishes: St. Peter the Apostle in Parsippany, Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Pompton Plains neighborhood of Pequannock, St. Virgil Parish in Morris Plains, and Our Lady of the Magnificat in Kinnelon. He was incardinated a priest of the Paterson Diocese in 2016.

He also became an American citizen.