Fr Mathew Kochupurackal, a priest of the diocese of Kothamangalam, was born on 05 December 1963 as the third son of Mr K.V. George and Mrs Mariyakutty George at Kadalikad near Muvattupuzha. After school education, he joined the minor seminary of the diocese of Kothamangalam in 1979. He had his philosophical and theological studies at St Thomas Apostolic Seminary Vadavathoor, Kottayam. He was ordained a priest on 28 December 1989.
After four years’ pastoral ministry as assistant parish priest in three parishes, he was sent for higher studies in Rome in 1993. He obtained licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome with summa cum laude and a diploma in ecclesiastical jurisprudence from the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. Then he worked as a parish priest in the diocese of Kothamangalam for two years.
In 2000 he was appointed the chancellor of the diocese of Kothamangalam which he did for twelve years. He has worked as the judicial vicar of the diocese of Kothamangalam for eight years and the president and judge of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Tribunal at Mount St. Thomas for ten years.
Besides, he has served the Church in a number of offices as visiting professor of canon law at Dharmaram Vidyakshetram Bangalore, St Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary Aluva, St Ephrem’s Theological College Satna, chief editor of the periodical Eastern Legal Thought, executive member of the Canon Law Society of India, vice president and president of the Oriental Canon Law Society of India, member of the Central Liturgical Committee of the Syro-Malabar Church, member of the committee to edit the Code of the Particular Law of the Syro-Malabar Church, convener and member of the experts’ committee of the Syro-Malabar Church and the postulator general of the Syro-Malabar Church. He obtained a diploma after very successfully passing the course on the procedure of the canonization of saints conducted by the Roman Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Since January 2015, he has been working as the chancellor of the newly erected Syro-Malabar eparchy of Melbourne in Australia.