Greetings to you,
I am Father Edison Chinnappan and was born on March 25, 1980 to a Catholic family in the southern part of India, Tamil Nadu. I am the second son of the family. I have an older brother who is married and has two children; and I have two younger sisters who are twins. Among them, one is a religious nun and the other one is married, also having two children.
Moved by the guidance of a religious nun, in India, I entered the seminary in 1999 and was ordained a priest on February 3, 2009 to the religious order Heralds of Good News (HGN). Actually Heralds of Good News is a Missionary Society of Apostolic Life, started in Eluru Diocese, India on October 14, 1984; it became an Institute of Pontifical Right on May 5, 1999. The specific aim of the Society is the promotion of vocations to priesthood, the training of seminarians, and the supply of zealous and hardworking missionaries to the dioceses in India and abroad which experience a shortage of priests due to the lack of local vocations.
After my ordination I served the Church in India for 4 years. In 2013, along with another priest (Father Francis, serving at Fort Morgan), I was sent to the Archdiocese of Denver to do God’s mission. Here in the Archdiocese I served two years as the Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral Immaculate Conception, Denver and five years at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Fort Collins.
As my dad (Chinnappan) was so ill and dying, I left to India on February 13, 2020 to be with him in his last days and do the funeral. Unexpectedly, due to the COVID-19 lockdown and international borders closed, I was stuck at home for 6 months. Now by God’s grace I am back to the Archdiocese and assigned as the Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Fatima, Lakewood.
I am so excited to serve the new parish. I hope all things go well. May the good Lord be with me and his people that I may work for his glory!
God Bless,
Father Edison