Bishop Gnanasigamony Devakadasham, head of Kanyakumari diocese, has been elected Moderator of the Church of South India.
Bishop Devakadasham, currently the deputy Moderator, defeated Bishop V Devasahayam , head of Chennai diocese by winning 219 votes against the 125 secured by the latter at the meeting of the CSI synod, the highest decision making body of the Church, on Friday at Kanyakumari.
According official spokesperson of the Church here, the 61 year old Bishop Devakadasham joined the service of the Church in 1971 and was ordained a priest on January 11, 1981. He was consecrated Bishop in 2001 and took charge as the fifth Head of Kanyakumari diocese. He became the deputy moderator of the Church on January 14, 2009. The installation ceremony for the two year term of Bishop Devakadasham will be held on Monday, official spokesman said Bishop G Dyvasirvadam head of Krishna-Godavari diocese (Andhra Pradesh) who defeated P Surya Prakash, head of Karimnagar diocese (Andhra Pradesh), is the new deputy Moderator.
M M Philip (Central Kerala diocese) has been elected General Secretary of the Synod for the consecutive second term. An architect, Mr Philip also functions as the secretary. CSI Trust Association and president, Council for World Mision South Asia Region. Currently he is on the Governing Councils of the Ludhiana and Vellore Christian Medical Colleges. He is the son of Bishop (emeritus) M C Mani, former head of the Central Kerala diocese. Bennet Albert (South Kerala diocese) is the new Treasurer of the Church.
The three-day meeting of the Synod commenced on Friday at Bishop Selvamony Retreat Centre, Kanyakumari. Nearly 400 delegates including Bishops and priests from the 22 dioceses across the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Jaffna province in Sri Lanka are participating along with invited representatives from sister Churches across the globe in the biennial meeting.
