AHRC UA980117 Vatican 17 January 1998
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGENT APPEAL [PRESS RELEASE]

The Excommunication of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya Is Lifted
A Farce Ends as a Farce
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

The excommunication of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya in January 1997 was one of the biggest farces of the Vatican - perhaps ever in its not so glorious history. There was no reason at all for this excommunication, and this has been the position of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and thousands of others, including, priests, nuns and lay people.

In our book Power vs. Conscience, we have demonstrated that the style of this excommunication is similar to the Stalinist prosecutions carried out by many of Stalin's prosecutors, the best known of whom is Andrei Vyshinsky. As the Vatican archives on the Inquisition have now been opened, there will be enormous evidence to prove that Stalin's prosecutors merely reproduced the model created by notorious Catholic inquisitors who have been responsible for the burning of thousands of so-called heretics. Those who wish to study the origins of the Western inclination towards bloody purges and holocausts should seriously make use of the opportunity now provided by the opening of the Vatican archives.

It is the strength of the massive protest made possible by the mass media and the use of cyberspace that was able to shorten the span of the excommunication of Fr. Balasuriya to one year. Throughout this unjust excommunication, many people stated that the Church is incapable of withdrawing an excommunication during the lifetime of those who effected the excommunication. Earlier apologies for other excommunications have come only after centuries have passed.

The strength of the conscience of people of good will, combined with modern methods of communication, have brought the unbending Catholic Church to reverse its decision that was not only unjust but was executed in an unjust and un-Christian manner. We express the greatest satisfaction at this achievement.

We are quite aware that the final act of lifting the excommunication has not come gracefully from the Church and that some humiliating events to Fr. Balasuriya and some of his friends have taken place - a face-saving device quite understandable at a moment of coming to terms with one of the greatest scandals that the Catholic Church has caused itself in recent times. Despite this, the achievement of Fr. Balasuriya and all of his supporters in Sri Lanka and elsewhere are historic.

This story will be remembered by future generations. Fr. Balasuriya needs to be congratulated for his tenacious and unbending stand against falsehood and false accusations of heresy. We know that it was painful for him to stand up against the authorities of the very Church that he has served loyally all his life. Even at this moment as his excommunication is lifted, it is regrettable that it has not been done with much regard for his feelings. In this, his position is similar to many others who have had to pay a heavy price for standing up for truth and for basic rights. However, his example will encourage many others to stand up against any future repetitions of similar misdemeanours by the Church.

It is unfortunate that the Church has lost another opportunity for re-establishing its credibility. Had the Church openly admitted its mistakes and apologised, the credit for lifting the excommunication would have been the Church's. Unfortunately, even the final act of reconciliation by the Church has been achieved through a statement made to save face. It is a great pity.

That an Asian could be more easily humbled than a person from the West was one of the rationales for this excommunication. In fact, it is the decadent minds of those in authority who unscrupulously carried out this excommunication that has been widely exposed.

After a relentless campaign beginning in mid-1996, even before the actual excommunication took place, AHRC, with all those who responded to the call for solidarity, celebrates this event. This event is a triumph for all that we stand for, namely, human rights and democracy in all aspects of life, including religion.

Two lessons need to be learned from this event. First, the significance of the power of protest and solidarity action against tyranny of any kind, including tyranny that hides behind so-called religious orthodoxy, can lead to a just conclusion. Secondly, a lesson that the Church must learn is that it must repudiate its inquisitorial past consciously and deliberately. The modern world with its new modes of creating people of good will and modern methods of communication leaves no room for heavy-handed acts and of engaging in farce, even if such acts and such farce are executed through the sanction of the highest authority of the Church.

Now the struggle for the lifting of the excommunication of Fr. Balasuriya is over. However, the struggle for human rights and democracy within the Church will continue. We should relentlessly pursue these objectives making use of the lessons learned during the past year's campaign against the excommunication of Fr. Balasuriya to make the preaching and pronouncements, the principles and the practices of the Church resonate in harmony with the sound of justice!

Basil Fernando, Executive Director, Asian Human Rights Commission, 17 January 1998.