CSI provides ecclesiastical guidance to churches, organizations and groups and the broad planning and direction needed to advance Scientology around the world.
Church of Scientology International trains the executives and staff of local churches, provides tailored religious guidance and programs to individual churches, and sends highly trained personnel to assist them as needed. It also plans broad-scale dissemination campaigns and translates L. Ron Hubbard's religious works into the many languages in which Scientology is practiced. By 1994, these works had been translated into 31 languages.
As the mother church for the religion, CSI ensures that all Scientology churches and, through Scientology Missions International (the mother church for missions), all Scientology missions operate in a coordinated manner to achieve the broader aims of Scientology.
He is assisted in this capacity by 11 highly trained Scientology executives, each of whom is responsible for a particular activity or function of the Church such as the ministration of auditing and training internationally; the compilation, translation and production of scriptural works; and the establishment of churches. Together they form the International Management Executive Committee, chaired by the Executive Director International.
Also within CSI is a large body of management staff who oversee the day-to-day activities of the religion internationally. The rapid growth of Scientology demands a high degree of coordination, which is carried out by CSI's ecclesiastical management personnel. The Scientology world is divided into continental areas, each of which has a liaison office through which CSI administers ecclesiastical management programs, sends religious dissemination materials and new ecclesiastical directives. The liaison offices also send specially trained missionaries to assist the local churches -- although these missionaries can also be sent directly from CSI. These ecclesiastical management liaison offices are maintained in such places as New York City for the United States, Sydney for Australia, Mexico City for South America and Johannesburg for South Africa.
Religious programs formulated by Scientology ecclesiastical management delineate each individual step towards an overall objective. For instance, a particular church might need more auditor-trained ministers. CSI administrators would see this need, devise a detailed program to fill it and ensure that it is executed until accomplished. Another church might need larger quarters because of growth and CSI would provide guidance and direction until this has been acquired. There are programs to get parishioners involved in community projects, to upgrade the quality of auditing and training in certain churches, to improve the facilities of churches, and many more.
No matter how large the religion is or becomes, CSI's ecclesiastical management staff monitor all Scientology churches, missions and groups, anticipate their needs and problems and provide the guidance to resolve them.
All told, CSI provides not only stability for its staff and parishioners, but accessibility for any who wish to avail themselves of the religious technology. Considering the unique ministerial duties of the churches--the fact that so much of what occurs in Scientology is a one-on-one activity-- this is a special challenge that is being met by competent, experienced executives.
Mr. Michael Rinder, a senior church executive since 1976 and a CSI Board member, heads this office. His staff includes legal and public affairs experts who are responsible for the external affairs of Church of Scientology International and of all churches worldwide.
Through a network of Directors of Special Affairs who serve in local churches, the Office of Special Affairs ensures that every church maintains sound corporate status and complies with all legal and tax requirements.
It also coordinates community affairs and outreach programs participated in by the local churches, including national anti-drug campaigns and interfaith activities.
The Office of Special Affairs formulates and coordinates national and international community betterment campaigns for the Church, with emphasis on drug education and drug-abuse prevention programs such as "Lead the Way to a Drug-Free USA," "Say No to Drugs" in Canada and Europe, and "Drug-Free Marshals" and "Drug-Free Ambassadors" internationally.
To produce these films, Golden Era Productions, a division of CSI, was formed and located on a 500-acre property in Southern California. The property contains film and sound studios as well as editing facilities and even a film laboratory, making it possible to produce all of these religious films in-house.
Golden Era Productions also provides audio-visual dissemination material on the Scientology religion to all Scientology organizations throughout the world. These include videotaped programs, radio and television messages and Sunday service broadcasts. The films and other audio-visual products are translated into many languages for use in other parts of the world.
Much of the Scientology scripture is contained in Mr. Hubbard's 3,000 tape-recorded lectures -- generally 90 minutes each. One of Golden Era Production's vital functions is to restore these lectures (many of which were recorded in the 1950s and had deteriorated) and to reproduce them in cassette form, along with full transcriptions, for use by students on Scientology religious training courses.
Golden Era Productions also supports the religion worldwide with dissemination brochures, posters, fliers and magazines in many languages. New books and other religious materials based on Mr. Hubbard's researches and writings are also compiled, designed and translated into 16 different languages at Golden Era Productions.
The most popular self-help book of all time is Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It has been a bestseller from Italy to Japan and has not only been published in many languages, but distributed in more than 100 countries around the world. In the United States, Dianetics has repeatedly appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, an unprecedented accomplishment for a book that first appeared in 1950. More than 16 million copies of the perennial bestseller have been sold to date.
Mr. Hubbard's books are also distributed through public libraries and currently more than 50,000 of these institutions around the world have many of his basic works.
Bridge Publications is located in Los Angeles and publishes Mr. Hubbard's works for the Western Hemisphere both as books and in audio form.
New Era Publications is located in Denmark and distributes Mr. Hubbard's works to the rest of the world -- in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Africa and throughout Asia.
Together these two publishing houses cover the world in over 30 languages.
More than 110 million of L. Ron Hubbard's books are in circulation today.
The essence of all that is Scientology is contained in the religious works of L. Ron Hubbard. These comprise the Scriptures of Scientology, and thus the foundation upon which the Church is built. They include Mr. Hubbard's lectures, written works and films. They set forth the full religion of Scientology: the Church's ministerial counseling, its religious structure and its organizational workings. From these scriptures also come what Scientology stands for in the name of social betterment, charitable works and human rights.
In all, these scriptures represent more than half a century of Mr. Hubbard's search for the means to realize man's full spiritual capabilities. There is nothing within them that requires faith. But rather, as he declared, "the total empire to which the Scientologist aspires is the empire of wisdom."
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From: The Church of Scientology: 40th Anniversary.
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