The Truth About Catholic Action – Part 1
by Gunaseela Vitanage
(Notes given by Roger Smith as taken from Gunaseela Vitanage’s article given in the Island, Midweek Review,
Wednesday 9th June, 1999)
The writer congratulates a certain Mr. AGO. Perera for admitting he had made “errors” when making adverse comments in reference to the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC), and the Bauddha Jatika Balavegaya (BJB). The writer comments that it is rare that people who make such adverse comments later to admit publicly they had erred.
Serious Allegations Against Catholic Actionists
In the same letter, however, Mr. Perera claims that the allegations made against theCatholic Church in “The Report of the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry (1956)” appointed by the ACBC and those allegations against the Catholic Action Movement (or Lay Apostolate – Lay Missionary Members) in the book “Catholic Action in Ceylon” published by the BJB (1963) had been answered by the Catholic Union of Ceylon. The writer dismissed this as an inadequate response and said that the replies were only circulated among the Catholics and which simply told them that the allegations were baseless!
The writer expressed his consternation that the matters in discussion related to very serious allegations supported by facts and figures concerning matters of public and national interest. He lists education, employment, activities in public institutions by Catholic Actionists and the abortive coup organized by Catholic Action, etc.
He said that if they were baseless, the proper way to deal with then was to refute them, point by point in the National Press or to have summoned a Press Conference or even discussed them with the two Buddhist organizations concerned.
He says “no-one makes (such serious) allegations against another unless there is a cause”
He then refers to past experiences where the Catholic Union attempted to mislead people by comparing Catholic Action favourably with local Buddhist institutions!
He says “by no stretch of the imagination can these Buddhist Associations ever be compared to the Catholic Action Movement – whose acknowledged aim and purpose is to conquer the world to Christ (Consecratio Mundi).
He charges that the cavalier replies to allegations and charges of a very serious nature were given simply to satisfy their own believers. But, he says that even intelligent Catholics would not accept these answers with out some detailed explanations which contradict or discredit the allegations or charges.
He talks of manipulation of Government and the rules to suit the Catholics. He quotes the case of imposing Church canon laws in the name of the so-called mixed marriages i.e., marriages between Christians and non-Christians. In such cases the non-Christians are treated as second class citizens by the Church.
The writer then proceeds to ask whether the provisions in the Vatican Council II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (CA) are contrary to a list of criteria he gives, starting with the first which asks is it “compatible with the sovereignty of the people of Sri Lanka as enshrined in the constitution of Sri Lanka .” ?
He concludes later that ”It would appear that the Vatican Council II Decree quoted above constitutes a gross violation of the sovereignty of the people’s of a democratic country like Sri Lanka.”
He discusses the meanings of some of the decrees made in the by the Vatican Council II and says “ this means that by this decree the Vatican Council directs the Catholic Laity to infiltrate into all public an private institutions in the country such as Government and quasi-Government Departments, Public Corporations, the Police and CID, the armed forces (The Navy) and even the Government itself. It also directs the Lay Apostles to infiltrate into the Mass Media of the country such as the Press, the Radio and Television, with a view to “ furthering Catholic Interests and upbuilding the Church (- its powers).
He comments that this is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the people of a democratic country like Sri Lanka .
His final comment is that all great teachers including The Buddha, never branded those who did not accept their teachings as heathens, idolaters, pagans, atheists and heretics and condemned them to death in Hell Fire Everlasting!
Roger Smith
“The Gift of Truth, which leads to Wisdom,
— is the greatest of All Gifts”
Ven Piyadasssi says in his book “Budhist Meditation”:
“Ignorance is the Crowning Corruption”