Stephen Alathara (born 1 May 1970) is the deputy secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI).[1] He started as the deputy secretary general of the conference on 10 June 2014.[2] He was appointed to this post three times consecutively in 2014, 2018 and 2022. He is the first priest from Kerala to serve as the deputy secretary general of the national episcopal conference. He is the founding Director of Communio, Executive Secretary to the CCBI Commission for Boundary, Chief Functionary of the Episcopal Conference, the Director of CCBI Centre.[3], Bangalore, the Director of Shanti Sadan, CCBI Secretariat Extension, Benaulim, Goa, Incharge of the PR Office in New Delhi and the Editor of the CCBI News. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India is the largest canonical national episcopal conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. There are 132 dioceses and 206 bishops under the conference.[4]
He is a priest from the Archdiocese of Verapoly,[5] Kerala and a prolific author, columnist, educationist, theologian and visiting professor in various ecclesiastical universities. He is well known for his lectures and workshops. He is the author of 17 books as well as hundreds of articles. His book Introduction to Catechetics[6] is the textbook for Catechetics in many major seminaries in India and abroad.[7]