Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims have joined Catholics in honoring a theologian who spent most of his life serving various ethnic groups and bridging religious divides. More than 50 people attended a recent thanksgiving Mass in Colombo for Oblate Father Tissa Balasuriya, 86, who founded the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians and Center for Society and Religion (CSR).
“I see him as a human liberator,” said Wasantha Chandani Senarath, a Buddhist who has been working at the CSR library for the past 18 years.
The priest was able to dialogue with politicians, religious leaders and even extremists over various issues, said Senarath.
Father Balasuriya met youths in prisons, Tamil rebels and took an active stand against injustice, the librarian added.
Neyma Mohamed, a Muslim woman who has worked with the priest for 25 years, said he “made his lessons accessible to temples and mosques” and openly discussed issues affecting religious communities.
In this regard, he made a unique contribution to interreligious dialogue, she said.
Ramanathan Sivanenthiran, a Hindu Congress member in Colombo, who had met the priest at interreligious conferences, said, “I am a reader of his controversial articles and books that enhance our knowledge of different religions.”
In his speech during Mass, Father Balasuriya said,
“We have to do more work to help society.”
The priest, who has written 35 books on theology, human rights and religions, ran into problems with the Vatican after publishing his book, Mary and Human Liberation, in 1990.
The Vatican warned that the book contained heretical content because it apparently misrepresented the doctrine of original sin and cast doubt on Christ’s divinity.
Father Balasuriya was excommunicated in 1997. After intense international publicity and negotiations, the excommunication was lifted in 1998.
The CSR, which he founded in 1971, organizes interreligious and inter-ethnic dialogue programs and also serves youths, vulnerable women, orphans and poor people.
SIC: CTH/ASIA