Rev Dr Joseph Dsouza consecrated as Bishop and Moderator of Good Shepherd Church India
September 1, 2014
Rev Dr Joseph Dsouza consecrated as Bishop and Moderator of Good Shepherd Church India
The Good Shepherd Church, India.
Hyderabad.
WELL KNOWN INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN LEADER REV DR JOSEPH DSOUZA
CONSECRATED AS BISHOP AND MODERATOR OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH INDIA
AND ITS ASSOCIATED MINISTRIES IN HYDERABAD INDIA.
Well know national and international Church leader and a minister in
the Good Shepherd Church, Rev Dr Joseph D'souza, was consecrated as
Bishop and appointed as it's Moderator by Bishop Alfred E Franks and
the Council of Bishops of the Good Shepherd Church in a packed Church
service in Hyderabad India.
Church leaders from the major Church traditions of Catholic,
Protestant and Evangelical groups participated in the service.
Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu leaders were also present. A large number
of national and international dignitaries were present and messages
were received from the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Mr. T.
Rajaiah, Baroness Caroline Cox, former Deputy leader of the House of
Lords, member of legislative bodies and senior government officers.
In his acceptance speech the new Bishop who is also the founder and
International President of the Dalit Freedom Network stated that he
will faithfully serve his Lord Jesus Christ who has a preferential
bias towards the poor, the sinners, the downtrodden and the discarded
peoples of societies everywhere. He articulated his respect for people
of all faiths and the right to religious freedom for all. He stated
that the Church could not be either an NGO or take the place of the
State and the separation of Church and State was an important
evolution in the understanding of the Church. However he made it clear
that the Church's mandate was compassionate involvement in matters
that affected people included issues of injustice and to bring the
good news of the Kingdom of God to all.
The new Bishop also stated he supported the Prime Minister Modi's call
for bringing to an end the violence against women and the call to
build toilets across India so that the human dignity of all peoples
was protected. He said that he hoped that once the toilets were built
that Indians would not expect the Dalits to clean these toilets but
that all Indians would learn to clean their toilets. He made
an impassioned plea for dignity of labour and stated that all labour
was holy according to the Bible and that he was committed to the
greatness of India.
The Good Shepherd work in India includes several thousand Churches
across 20 states of India, 110 English medium schools for the poor and
depressed sections of society in 15 states, 80 major community health
initiatives across India, economic empowerment, anti-trafficking work
and the Bible distribution work of OM Books.
The Good Shepherd Church is an Episcopal, evangelical denomination and
has its roots in the work of Operation Mobilisation. In a poignant
moment after the consecration and appointment service of Rev Dsouza as
Bishop and Moderator, a prayer of Dr. George Verwer, the founder of
OM, for the new Bishop was prayed by the Rt. Reverend Paothang Haokip.
George Verwer prayed that God's mighty grace and hand would be upon
the new Bishop and the work in India.
Released by
Rev Kumar Swamy,
Public Relations Officer,
The Good Shepherd Church.
* This PR was sent to e-pao.net by Madhu Chandra who can be contacted at madhuchandra66(at)gmail(dot)com
This Press Release was posted on September 03 2014
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