New bishop installed for CSI South Kerala diocese

The Church of South India (CSI) on Saturday installed Rev. Dharmaraj Rasalam as the Bishop of South Kerala Diocese.

Rev. Rasalam was officially proclaimed as the new bishop at a ceremony led by CSI Moderator Vasantha Kumar, and attended by about 21 bishops from CSI dioceses.

The ceremony was held at the Mateer Memorial Church at the South Kerala Diocese headquarters.

A reception joined by several honored guests followed the ceremony in the afternoon. Those that graced the occasion included Speaker G Karthikeyan, Deputy Speaker N Shakthan, Transport Minister V S Sivakumar, Mayor K Chandrika and MPs Shashi Tharoor and A Sampath.

From the Church present was Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis and Latin Catholic Archbishop M Soosai Pakiam.

Rev. Rasalam succeeds Rev J W Gladstone, who stepped down recently. The 53-year-old bishop was earlier the vice-chairman of the CSI South Kerala Diocese.

Hailing from Vizhinjam, Rasalam did his graduation and post-graduation in Theological Studies at the Senate of Serampore College.

Rasalam is the sixth bishop of the diocese of the leading Protestant Christian denomination.

Taking over as the new bishop, Rasalam said "education and uplift of the poor" will be his top priority.