Being Ordained Without Training Unacceptable: Bishops' Council on 'Rev Mallya'
Media Release
Bangalore, Jun 26: On behalf of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops' Council, Fr Ronnie Prabhu has issued a media release in the wake of the announcement by Sidhartha Mallya, son of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, that he has been certified an ordained priest by the Universal Life Church.
The release states:
"The announcement by Sidhartha Vijay Mallya that he is now Rev Mallya has caught the attention of the worldwide media.
This implies that according to the media he has become a member of the Universal Life Church and has been ordained a minister in that organization.
The Catholic Church rejoices when anyone from the depths of his heart accepts Jesus Christ in faith and is committed to live by the values that Jesus taught. If becoming a member of the Universal Life Church implies this we are happy about it.
For the Catholic Church, ‘being ordained a minister’ without any meaningful formal training, without a deep study of the Scriptures and traditions of Christianity is unacceptable since an ordained minister is expected to live an exemplary life worthy of his calling, as the community seeks from him guidance and invocation of prayerful blessings from God on them.
The Church was founded by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago and has a history and its tradition. New groups originating in our times calling themselves by the same title “Church’ can be very misleading.