Pushpa Lalitha

Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha (born 1956)[1] is the Bishop of the Nandyal Diocese of the Church of South India. She is the first woman to become a bishop in Church of South India.[4]

The Right Reverend Sister[1]

E. Pushpa Lalitha

CSI Order of Sisters[1]
Bishop – in – Nandyal
ChurchChurch of South India (A Uniting church comprising Wesleyan Methodist, Congregational, Calvinist and Anglican missionary societies – SPG, WMMS, LMS, Basel Mission, CMS, and the Church of England)
DioceseNandyal Diocese
Elected2013
In office2013–present
PredecessorP. J. Lawrence
SuccessorIncumbent
Orders
OrdinationAs Deaconess on 17 July 1983,[2]
As Presbyter on 8 April 1984[2][3]
by Bishop L. V. Azaraiah,[3] CSI
Consecration29 September 2013[2]
by G. Devakadasham, Moderator (Principal Consecrator),
and Govada Dyvasirvadam, Deputy Moderator (Co-consecrator)
RankBishop
Personal details
Born
Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha

(1956-11-22) 22 November 1956[2]
Diguvapadu,[3] Kurnool district
NationalityIndian
DenominationChristianity
ResidenceNandyal
OccupationPriesthood
EducationB. A.,[2]
B. D.[2] (Serampore)
Alma mater

The Church of South India, part of the Anglican Communion,[5] created history when then Moderator, G. Devakadasham and Deputy Moderator G. Dyvasirvadam consecrated Pushpa Lalitha in 2013[6] making a woman Reverend become a bishop. Pushpa Lalitha is a member of the CSI Order of Sisters headquartered in Bangalore and although she is the first woman to be consecrated as Bishop of Church of South India, the first woman to be consecrated Bishop in any church in Asia was A. Katakshamma[7] of the Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bhadrachalam. The first ordained woman priest in India is Sr. Elizabeth Paul, also of the CSI Order of Sisters.

Early years

Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha was born to a family of agriculturists in Diguvapadu[3] village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. She acknowledges the influence of the Protestant and Catholic Missionaries[3] who lead a selfless life and she very much wanted to lead such a life and became a member of the CSI Order of Sisters.[8]

Ministerial Formation

Pushpa Lalitha had her ministerial formation[4] at the Andhra Christian Theological College,[3] Secunderabad affiliated to the nation's first[9] University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) where she studied from 1979-1982 during the period of the Old Testament Scholars, Victor Premasagar,[10] CSI and G. Babu Rao,[10] CBCNC.

She later had an exposure in 1984–1985[3] at the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham and at the United Church of Jamaica and Cayman Islands,[8] Kingston, Jamaica.[11] Pushpa Lalitha also studied advanced courses at Berkeley, California during 1993–1995[3] at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

Ordination and pastorship

Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha was ordained,[2] as Deaconess in 1983[2] and as a priest on 1984.[2][3] She held the post of Director[3] of Vishranthi Nilayam, the headquarters of the CSI Order of Sisters on Infantry road in Bangalore and the administrative head of the Church of South India women fellowship. She has also served as Chairperson of the Deanery committee.

Bishopric

Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha was appointed as the Bishop of Nandyal Diocese on 25 September 2013. She was consecrated as Bishop on 29 September 2013 at the CSI-Holy Cross Cathedral in Nandyal by Moderator G. Devakadasham and Deputy Moderator G. Dyvasirvadam.[12]

Further reading
  • Elizabeth Gillan Muir (2019). Women's History of the Christian Church: Two Thousand Years of Female Leadership. ISBN 9781487593858.
  • E. Pushpa Lalitha (2017). "Women's Leadership in the Church of South India". Feminist Theology. 26 (1): 80–89. doi:10.1177/0966735017714403. ISSN 1745-5189. S2CID 148829032.
  • Grace Davie (2015). Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox. ISBN 978-1-4051-3595-5.
  • Colin Buchanan (2015). Historical Dictionary of Anglicanis. ISBN 978-1-4422-5016-1.
  • Constance M. Millington (1993). An Ecumenical Venture: The History of Nandyal Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, 1947–1990. ISBN 9788170861539.

References
  1. Elizabeth Gillan Muir, Women's History of the Christian Church: Two Thousand Years of Female Leadership, Toronto University Press, Toronto, 2019, p.355.
  2. Church of South India Synod, Nandyal Diocese Ministerial details.
  3. E. Pushpa Lalitha, Women’s Leadership in the Church of South India in Feminist Theology, Volume 26(1), 2017, pp.80–89.
  4. "CSI appoints woman as a bishop". The Hindu. 28 September 2013.
  5. Colin Buchanan, Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism, Rowman and Littlefield, London, 2015, p.548.
  6. Grace Davie, Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox, Blackwell Publishers, Sussex, 2015, p.127.
  7. Nikhila Henry, India gets first woman Anglican bishop from Andhra.
  8. Diocese of Oxford, God in the Life of Bishop of Nandyal
  9. UNESCO Structures of University Education in India, 1952
  10. H. S. Wilson (Edited), The Church on the Move: Essays in honour of Victor Premasagar, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1988, p.vi.
  11. Theologue, United Theological College of the West Indies, 1984, p.29.
  12. "India gets first woman Anglican bishop from Andhra". The Times of India. 28 September 2013. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013.
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