The Church of South India (CSI) this week has decided to detach from the Kerala Council of Churches (KCC), an ecumenical forum of non-Catholic Protestant Churches in Kerala, in dispute against the forum's decision to offer membership to the Believers Church.
The CSI's development arose amid the controversy regarding the episcopacy asserts of the Believers Church that its head, K.P. Yohannan, was consecrated by the CSI.
However, the CSI has denied this assert of the Believers Church, stating that it has never done such a thing at any point of time, according to the Hindu.
The CSI members of the synod had collectively decided to pull out from the KCC and its programs, said Bishop Thomas K. Oommen, the CSI moderator.
He also denied the CSI's involvement in consecration of Yohannan and said that such claims were baseless.
"The CSI never considers the Believers Church as an episcopal church or accept its leader, K.P. Yohannan, a bishop. As per the CSI view, K.P. Yohannan is a layman and the KCC decision, overlooking the CSI objection, was unfortunate," said Oommen.
Oommen, also the constitutional head of the CSI, said that there were certain norms to consecrate a person as a bishop. According to the constitution of the Church, a synod executive has to grant the moderator to consecrate a clergy as a bishop.
He said there wasn't any approval given from the CSI synod executive to the moderator to consecrate Yohannan as a bishop.
However, it was noted that the CSI and KCC weren't in good terms for in the past since the council was against the very foundation of the former.
CSI could never entertain the Believers Church because its moral and ethical basics wouldn't allow it.
