Church of Scientology International

Church Of Scientology International

The Church of Scientology International, Inc. (CSI) is a Californian 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Within the worldwide network of Scientology corporations and entities, CSI is officially referred to as the "mother church" of the Church of Scientology.

According to the official website of the Church of Scientology, "CSI provides overall direction, planning and guidance for the network of churches, missions, field auditors and volunteer ministers which comprise the Scientology hierarchy it spans, and ensures these various organizations are all working effectively together. "

"CSI broadly plans and coordinates Scientology expansion. This planning is then carried out by the individual networks of organizations which comprise ecclesiastical management at the continental echelon. Through CSI’s ecclesiastical management activities, Scientology churches receive guidance in applying the scriptures both technically and administratively.

"In addition to guiding the growing Scientology hierarchy, CSI sees to the publication of Scientology scripture, both in written and audiovisual form, including some three thousand of L. Ron Hubbard's tape-recorded lectures. A division within CSI, Golden Era Productions, is responsible for producing these recordings as well as E-Meters, religious training films, slide shows and videos of Scientology. It supports the religion worldwide by publishing informational brochures and posters, and parishioner magazines in many languages. Golden Era also compiles, designs and translates new books and other religious materials based on Mr. Hubbard’s researches and writings into more than 60 languages. "

In a 1993 memorandum by CSI, the following information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service with regards to CSI's role and functions, its personnel and its income:

" CSI is the Mother Church of the Scientology religion, with ecclesiastical authority over the ministry of religious services to parishioners by all subordinate churches within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This church has a staff of approximately 990 individuals and an annual budget of approximately $ 46.8 million, based on its annual disbursements for the most recent year for which financial statements are available. "