Chronology of Balasuriyas
troubles:
1971 -- Oblate Fr. Balasuriya, a native of Sri Lanka with a
growing interest in making Christian teachings accessible to people in his
predominantly Buddhist nation, founds the Center for Society and Religion. Four
years later, he founds the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians.
1978 -- Balasuriyas book Eucharist and Human
Liberation is published by Orbis.
1990 -- Fr. Tissa Balasuriyas center publishes his
book Mary and Human Liberation.
June 1994 -- Sri Lankan bishops publish a warning of
heretical content in Balasuriyas 1990 book, saying he misrepresented the
doctrine of original sin and cast serious doubts on the divinity of Christ.
July 1994 -- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
demands that Balasuriya retract his views. The congregation dismisses his
55-page theological defense as unsatisfactory.
May 1996 -- The congregation demands that Balasuriya sign
by Dec. 8 a profession of faith, apparently written exclusively for him. It
states that he will adhere with religious submission of will and
intellect to the teachings of the Roman pontiff, even those teachings not
proclaimed as definitive, and that he understands that the church has no
authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women. Balasuriya
responds by signing a profession of faith composed by Pope Paul VI. He adds a
caveat: that he was signing it in the context of theological development
and church practice since Vatican II and the freedom and responsibility of
Christians and theological searchers under canon law. Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican congregation, said the caveat had rendered the
profession defective.
December 1996 -- His excommunication imminent, Balasuriya
appeals directly to Pope John Paul II, citing lack of due process. Eighty Third
World theologians announce plans to write the pope on Balasuriyas behalf.
January 1997 -- With the popes approval, Balasuriya,
72, is declared excommunicated on Jan. 2 under Canon 1364, a church law that
applies to apostates and heretics. Balasuriya appeals to the Supreme Tribunal
of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, the church court that oversees due process.
Leaders of Sri Lankas 222 Oblate missionaries urge the Vatican to repeal
the penalty.
February 1997 -- The tribunal notifies Balasuriya that Pope
John Paul II had determined his case should not go forward. Balasuriya
subsequently agrees to drop the caveat from the Paul VI profession. NCR
publishes an open letter to Balasuriya from Fr. Charles Curran, who decries the
penalty as inhumane because it destroys the most fundamental
identity of your life as a baptized Catholic, a theologian and a priest.
April 1997 -- Bishop Peter Takeo Okada of Japan warns a top
Vatican official, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, that the church will forever
lack a voice for justice unless Balasuriyas excommunication is
rescinded. Etchegaray heads the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
September 1997 -- the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith issues new norms aimed at safeguarding the rights of theologians accused
of unorthodox or dangerous opinions.
November 1997 -- Balasuriya addresses some 1,500 U.S.
Catholics at a national meeting of Call to Action, by far his largest U.S.
audience ever. He strenuously objects to what he said was suspension of canon
law in his case, a dangerous situation.
January 1998 -- The excommunication is rescinded following
six days of negotiations.
Stories about the Balasuriya case have appeared in the
following issues of NCR: Dec. 20 and 27 in 1996; Jan. 17 and 31, Feb. 14
and 21, Aug. 1 and Dec. 5, all in 1997. Excerpts from his book were published
on Feb. 21, 1997, and an open letter to Balasuriya from Fr. Charles Curran, the
U.S. theologian removed from his teaching post at Catholic University of
America, was published on Feb. 7, 1997.
National Catholic Reporter, January 30,
1998
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