Balasuriya tells CTA due process denied - excommunicated theologian Fr. Tissa Balasuriya; Call To Action national meeting

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 5, 1997 by Pamela Schaeffer

DETROIT--The latest theologian to come under Vatican penalty, Oblate Fr. Tissa Balasuriya of Sri Lanka, told participants in a national meeting of Call to Action here that the church has a long record of "intolerance in the service of truth."

On Nov. 16, the final day of a three-day conference. Balasuriya, declared excommunicated in January 1996, delivered a series of talks to some 1,500 listeners--his largest U.S. audience ever, he said.

His appearance at Call to Action, a national organization of reform-minded Catholics, was his first in the United States since the Vatican declared him to be excommunicated latae sententiae, that is, automatically. It was the harshest penalty in memory to be levied by the Vatican against a theologian.

In a talk titled "Human Rights in the Church" Balasuriya said church leaders even in modern times have had "a concept that the world belonged to them" and that they needed to protect people to ensure their salvation.

He objected strenuously to what he said was a suspension of canon law in his own case--"a dangerous situation," he said--to address what the Vatican described as an "urgent" circumstance.

Balasuriya also called for more Asian and African members on the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican agency that handled his case. The pope and Vatican curia "must be open" to new theological currents, he said. The congregation"must be made truly catholic, with a small c."

This year's conference drew 3,500 participants in all, a sharp drop from 5,000 last year. Bob Heineman, Call Action's resources developer, said last year's conference had been particularly large because it was the organization's 20th anniversary and because it was the year in which Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., had excommunicated Call to Action members in his diocese. Many came to protest that action, he said.

Organizers said national attendance had also been affected by a proliferation of regional meetings around the country this year. Don Wedd, Call to Action staff member, said nearly 3,000 members had attended nine regional meetings throughout the year.

Linda Pieczynski, president of Call to Action's board, said, "We expected that when the regionals kicked off, people would attend closer to home," she said.

Grieving over dreams

Among key events at this year's conference, in addition to talks by Balasuriya:

* The Call to Action board presented its annual award to Pax Christi USA the national Catholic peace group, for its efforts to challenge "the culture of violence in our society." CTA Codirector Dan Daley said the organization wants to highlight its social action agenda.

* Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister gave a rousing defense of feminism to the full assembly that drew an enthusiastic standing ovation.

* Capuchin Franciscan Fr. Michael Crosby proposed that reform-minded Catholics begin to apply the biblical metaphor of "Exile," drawn from the Book of Ezekiel, to their present relationship with the church.

"If we can grieve over the death and destruction of our dreams, if we can be purified of any pretension of complacency, we can he energized to create alternative ways that will speak to a new generation and breathe new life into our dry bones," Crosby said.

Pieczynski said the invitation to Balasuriya to address the c conference was intended to offer him a forum rather than to endorse his teaching.

Pieczynski a lawyer from Hinsdale, Ill., said, "Ally time the Vatican tries to silence someone, we should be able at least to understand what it is they're trying to protect us from," she said. Board members had also been deeply concerned about what appeared to be a "misuse of power by Vatican officials"--a lack of "due process," she said.

Last year's Call to Action program included talks by Bishop Jacques Gaillot, removed by the Vatican from the Evreux, France, diocese after he announced his support for women priests, married clergy and full acceptance of gays and lesbians in the church.

Balasuriya, 73, is accused by the Vatican of denying church teaching on original sin, redemption and the divinity of Christ in his efforts to justify Christianity to his Asian audience. In his book, he wrote that the doctrine of original sin "is based on unproved and unprovable assumptions" and leads to an exclusive theology of redemption--a theology, he argues, that is untenable in an Asian context, where Buddhists and Hindus far outnumber Christians. The most basic Christian teachings pose problems in cultures of southern Asia, he said.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top doctrinal authority, has expressed deep concern about theological "relativism"--that is, diluting traditional Christian dogmas to make them palatable in other cultures.

Balasuriya was declared excommunicated based on his 1990 book Mary and Human Liberation and after he refused to sign a declaration of faith written exclusively for him-a highly unusual demand in modern times.

Behind the scenes

In an hourlong interview with NCR, Balasuriya said that officials of his religious order have been working behind the scenes for months to seek his reconciliation with Vatican officials in Rome. He said he would favor reconciliation but not at the expense of bending to demands he regards as unjust. "Seminarians in Asia are watching this closely," he said. "In a sense, this case is for them, for the young people."