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Karel Choennie
Karel Martinus Choennie (born 20 December 1958) is a Surinamese Roman Catholic bishop. As of 2016, he is the current Bishop of Paramaribo. He is the first bishop in Suriname of Indian descent.[1] BiographyChoennie was born on 20 December 1958. In 1976, he left for the Netherlands to study pedagogy at Radboud University Nijmegen, and obtained his bachelor's degree in 1978.[2] Next, he went to the monastery of Mount Saint Benedict in Trinidad and Tobago,[3] and graduated in theology at the University of the West Indies in 1984. On 3 August 1985, he was ordained priest.[2][4] In 1996, he studied pastoral theology at KU Leuven, and graduated in 1998.[2] On 11 November 2015, Choennie was appointed Bishop of Paramaribo,[5] and consecrated on 24 January 2016 by Wilhelmus de Bekker.[6] PositionsDuring the military dictatorship, Choennie was a vocal critic of the human rights violations which had occurred. When he criticized the amnesty for December Murders, he was labelled enemy of the people by President Desi Bouterse.[3] In 2019, Choennie was one of the bishops who voted for the inclusion of married and female priests during the Amazon synod.[7][8] Pope Francis later rejected the conclusions of the synod.[9] Choennie has expressed his concerns about climate change, and called for a radical change in the production and consumption culture.[10] References
External links Wikiquote has quotations related to Karel Martinus Choennie.  Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karel Marinus Choennie. |
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