Rev. Fr. Jerry Mathew

Fr. Jerry Mathew was born in Kerala, India, and moved to Michigan, USA in 2001. After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (with Honors), with a minor in Philosophy and a concentration in Religious Studies, he joined St. Aloysius Minor Seminary in Trivandrum, India. He finished his Systematic Philosophy studies at St. Mary’s Syro-Malankara Major Seminary in Trivandrum, Kerala, and fulfilled his Theology studies at St. Joseph’s Dunwoodie Seminary in New York. Notably, during his time at the latter institution, he furnished a Syro-Malankara chapel for the seminary, graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA, and was the recipient of the prestigious Charles Borromeo Award.

He was ordained as a priest on July 2, 2016, marking a historic moment as he became the first priest ordained following the elevation of the Syro-Malankara community in the USA and Canada to the status of an Eparchy. Following a period of pastoral work in both Latin and Syro-Malankara parishes as associate pastor and later as pastor, he was sent to Rome for further studies. In 2020, he completed his Sacred Theology Licentiate with Specialization in Youth Ministry, with outstanding academic performance that earned him the University Gold Medal. His research, "Silence in Youth Ministry: With a Specific Focus on the American Context for the Holistic Development of Catholic Youth," represented the first comprehensive work on Syro-Malankara youth within the North American context. Currently, he is dedicated to his ongoing doctoral studies in Sacred Theology in the same field.

He presently holds the role of pastor at St. Mary’s Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Chicago, and he serves as the Eparchial Director of the Malankara Catholic Youth Movement – North America. His linguistic proficiency in liturgical hymns and command of both Malayalam and English has positioned him as the primary translator for liturgical texts from Malayalam to English. Among his notable accomplishments as a translator are the Holy Week translation and transliteration book and the comprehensive Sunday prayer book. These publications feature dual pages, where English translations are presented alongside corresponding Malayalam texts or English transliterations.