{"id":53637,"date":"2016-04-07T15:37:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T22:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=53637"},"modified":"2016-04-07T15:37:48","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T22:37:48","slug":"catholic-action-in-ceylon-after-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/04\/07\/catholic-action-in-ceylon-after-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"CATHOLIC ACTION IN CEYLON AFTER INDEPENDENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Published by THE\u00a0 BAUDDHA JATIKA BALAGEVAYA 1963\u00a0Chapter 10<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Part 1 \u2013 IN POLITICS<\/p>\n

The very term Catholic Action\u201d was not known even among the non-Catholic English educated intelligentsia of Ceylon until the publication of the report of the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry, or more popularly known as the Buddhist Commission Report, in February 1956. There had of course been a general feeling among the Buddhists public servants that some of the Roman Catholic officers occupying key positions in various Government Departments were pursuing a policy of discrimination against Buddhists and in favour of Roman Catholics in administrative matters such as appointments, promotions and scholarships. They, however, attributed this to the clannishness of a minority community rather than to the deliberate scheming of an organized body.<\/p>\n

The same allegation was in fact levelled against Tamil officers in key positions. It was the Buddhist Commission Report which revealed that these discriminatory acts were the result of the machinations called \u2019Catholic Action.\u2019 Discussing the non-religious activities of religious bodies, the Buddhist Commission Report said: The most prominent among them (non-religious activities) is the movement designated Catholic Action\u201d. Catholic Action is a movement started by the Pope (Incl: Ignatius Loyola\/ local Jesuits who have access to local laymen.) all over the world among Catholic laymen, embracing all activities from the intellectual to the manual, to the social to the political. It emphasizes the promotion of Catholic aims by the lay apostolate. Father S.G. Perera, SJ, explains the political aim of Catholic Action in a lecture published under the title: Catholics and Civil Responsibilities\u201d as the devising of means to bring about harmonious agreement between Church and State in politics.\u201d Catholic Action groups are found in every Government department and mercantile firm, directed and guided by the Catholic Hierarchy furthering Catholic interests and promoting the interests of Catholics through the use of official positions. In thisway the Hierarchy is kept informed of Government activities and the public servants given directives as regards their official acts. This is how harmonious agreement between Church and State is brought about.\u201d (The Betrayal of Buddhism. An abridged version of the report of the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry, p21) \u00a0 \u00a0The revelation that there was an organized movement called\u00a0Catholic Action and that the members of this movement, most of whom were\u00a0high officials holding key positions in public service, were being given\u00a0instructions by an outside body with regard to such matters as appointments,\u00a0promotions and scholarships, gave an entirely different complexion to the\u00a0situation, and soon Buddhist public servants began to be vigilant about the\u00a0activities of Catholic officers in their departments.<\/p>\n

On 20th January, 1957, the Venerable Narada Maha Thero of\u00a0Vajiraramaya, Bambalapitiya, addressed an open letter to the late Prime\u00a0Minister, Hon. SWRD. Bandaranaike, pointing out to him the extent to which\u00a0Catholic Action had infiltrated into key positions in the Armed Services,\u00a0the police and various other Governmental departments and warning him of the\u00a0danger of the movement. This letter which contained matters of vital\u00a0importance to the people of the country, and written by a monk well-known\u00a0for his piety, learning and disinterestedness in politics, was entirely\u00a0blacked out by the daily Press. As a matter of fact, by this time the daily\u00a0Press had been successfully permeated with the Christian Spirit\u201d by\u00a0Catholic Action, and hence would not publish anything which put the Catholic\u00a0Church or the Catholic Action Movement in an unfavourable light.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Action Movement in fact, appears to have become very\u00a0active in Ceylon from the time it realized that Ceylon would become\u00a0politically independent and that as a result there might be a revival of\u00a0Buddhism and Hinduism, the two indigenous religions which had been\u00a0suppressed for centuries. Under British rule, every Christian Church had\u00a0been incorporated by law and this legal act had given them very wide powers.<\/p>\n

The Roman Catholic Church had been incorporated under Roman Catholic Bishop\u00a0Ordinance No. 19 of 1906 and under this enactment, the Archbishop had become\u00a0a Corporate soul, having perpetual succession and vested with full powers\u00a0to acquire, purchase, take hold and enjoy movable and immovable property of
\nevery description, and to sell or otherwise dispose of same.\u201d In terms of\u00a0this Ordinance, the Roman Catholic Archbishop also had the right to invest\u00a0money in business or industrial undertakings and in fact he possessed every\u00a0power the law was capable of granting. And on the other hand, he as a\u00a0Corporate soul with perpetual succession, was not liable to death duty. He\u00a0was not obliged to render accounts either to the members of the Church or to\u00a0the Government. In addition, he was also exempted from all taxes including\u00a0Income Tax. The nett result of all this was that when this country gained\u00a0Independence, the Roman Catholic Church was the wealthiest and the most\u00a0powerful organization outside the Government.<\/p>\n

Thus when the Roman Catholic Church realized that political\u00a0independence was soon becoming a reality, it sought to perpetuate its powers\u00a0under the changed conditions, by having them safeguarded by the new\u00a0constitution which granted independence to the country.<\/p>\n

Sir Ivor Jennings, who drafted the Order-in-Council (Independence\u00a0of Ceylon) has revealed that proviso to Section 29 (2) (d): was SLIGHTLY\u00a0amended in final drafting to meet the views of the Roman Catholics.\u201d The\u00a0amendment is as follows:<\/p>\n

Provided that in any case where a religious body is incorporated by law, no\u00a0such alteration shall be made except at the request of the governing\u00a0authority of that body\u201d.<\/p>\n

Discussing the effects of this proviso the Buddhist Commission Report says:<\/p>\n

Parliament in Ceylon may reduce the powers of the Queen, but it cannot\u00a0reduce the powers of the Christian Religious bodies. Over Ceylon,\u00a0Christianity sits enthroned, and Ceylon bound hand and foot has been\u00a0delivered at the foot of the CROSS.\u201d (Betrayal of Buddhism \u2013 p31)<\/p>\n

United National Party.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just\u00a0one year before the grant of Independence, the United National Party was\u00a0formed by the amalgamation, or to be more precise, by the coalition of
\nseveral political parties. Such diverse elements as the Ceylon National\u00a0Congress, the Sinhala Maha Sabha, the Tamil Congress and the Muslim league\u00a0went to form the United National Party. There was no Catholic party as such,\u00a0but the most united group within the United National Party, and having a\u00a0strong sense of purpose and determination, was the Catholic group in the\u00a0Party.<\/p>\n

We are in a position to reveal that there was an \u2018Inner Cabinet\u2019\u00a0to advise the first Prime Minister of Independent Ceylon, Mr. D.S.\u00a0Senanayake, on State policy as well as on the day-to-day administration, and\u00a0that this Cabinet comprised entirely of Catholics. Three Catholic knights\u00a0and a Catholic historian used to meet Mr. D.S. Senanayake at lunch once a\u00a0week at the Senate building and State affairs were discussed at this\u00a0meeting. We are sure that the late Mr. D.S. Senanayake did not for a moment\u00a0suspect that these gentlemen were Catholic Actionists who were acting under\u00a0the direction of the Catholic Hierarchy and were seeking to influence his\u00a0policies so as to make them favourable to the Church. But in retrospect, we\u00a0see how all his actions were influenced by the advice tendered by this\u00a0Catholic \u2018Inner Cabinet.\u2019<\/p>\n

This \u2018Inner Cabinet\u2019 saw to it that the newly formed Armed Forces:\u00a0the Army, the Navy and the Air Force were subjected to Christian\u00a0penetration\u201d. More than 75% of the staff posts in the Army, 95% in the Navy\u00a0and more than 60% in the Air Force were manned by Roman Catholics and\u00a0practically every key post was filled by one of them. Care was taken to\u00a0see that even the post of the Civilian Administrator, a post filled by an\u00a0officer belonging to the Accountants\u2019 Service was always held by a Catholic\u00a0or a Christian in each of the Armed Forces.<\/p>\n

Once the key positions were captured by Catholics, they saw to it\u00a0that the Catholic power within the Armed Forces was maintained unimpaired.\u00a0They did this by discriminating against Buddhists and other non-Catholics in\u00a0the matter of recruitment, training and promotions.\u00a0 And this goes on in the\u00a0Armed Forces even today.<\/p>\n

In fairness to the late Mr. D.S. Senanayake it must be said he was\u00a0quite ignorant of the fact that there was a world-wide organization called\u00a0the Catholic Action Movement controlled and directed by that part of the\u00a0Hierarchy who had taken the Jesuit Oath, namely the Order of Jesuit Priests.\u00a0They had as their ultimate objective the Catholicization of every country\u00a0and resorted to infiltration tactics to achieve that objective. Mr.\u00a0Senanayake had a genuine fear of Communism, and the Catholics in the United\u00a0National Party, and especially the members of the \u2018Inner Cabinet\u2019 who were\u00a0in close contact with the Roman Catholic Hierarchy worked on that fear and\u00a0led Mr. Senanayake into the belief that while a Buddhist or a Hindu may be a\u00a0Communist in secret, a Roman Catholic will always be an anti-Communist. It\u00a0was thus that the Armed forces of a country with a 75% Buddhist population\u00a0came to be dominated by Roman Catholics who comprise only 7% of the total\u00a0population.<\/p>\n

This all Catholic Inner Cabinet was in no small measure\u00a0responsible for the rift between Mr. D.S. Senanayake and Mr. SWRD.\u00a0Bandaranaike which ultimately led to the latter\u2019s resignation from the post\u00a0of Minister of Local Administration and his breakaway from the United\u00a0National Party. Mr. Bandaranaike, as Leader of the House and most senior\u00a0member of the Cabinet was the virtual successor to Mr. D.S Senanayake as\u00a0Prime Minister. But his policies were far too socialist and nationalist for\u00a0the liking of the Catholic Church. Worst of all, Mr. Bandaranaike was\u00a0insisting that due place must be accorded to the Buddhist religion and the\u00a0Sinhala language.<\/p>\n

There is also no doubt that this Inner Cabinet was responsible for\u00a0getting down Dr. H.W. Howes, a leading Catholic Activist of England who was\u00a0functioning at the time as the Director of Education in the tiny British\u00a0Catholic colony of Gibraltar and installing him as the Director of Education\u00a0of Ceylon. We shall refer to his activities later.<\/p>\n

Another act of Mr. D.S. Senanayake which worked against the\u00a0interests of the Buddhists was the manning of the Public Services Commission\u00a0entirely by non-Buddhists. The Soulbury Commission intended the Public\u00a0Services Commission to be an independent body immune from pressure from\u00a0outside, political or otherwise. The P.S.C. however, soon became the\u00a0champion of minority religious and minority racial groups and sought to\u00a0maintain the Colonial structure of the Public Service which favoured the\u00a0Christians and the Tamils. This was generally done by packing\u201d the\u00a0selection boards with Catholics Christians and Tamils. Catholic Action\u00a0naturally lost no opportunity in making full use of this attitude of the\u00a0P.S.C. and to grab as many posts as possible for Catholics in the Public
\nService. As a matter of fact, within six years, i.e., 1948 to 1954, the\u00a0Apostolate of Public Institutions of the Catholic Action Movement was able\u00a0to infiltrate into the Treasury, the Customs, the Education Department, theGovernment Stores, the Department of Social Services, the Department of\u00a0National Housing, the Income Tax Department, the Fisheries Department, the\u00a0State Mortgage bank, and various other Government Departments and to\u00a0Christianize\u201d them systematically in accordance with the instructions from\u00a0the Vatican.<\/p>\n

Buddhists who expected that discrimination against them would\u00a0cease once and for all now that the country was politically independent,\u00a0soon realized that discrimination of a far more subtle, far more pernicious\u00a0nature was being exercised against them in the new set-up. It was at this\u00a0stage that a Buddhist Congress deputation led by Dr. G.P. Malalasekera met\u00a0Mr. D.S. Senanayake and asked him to appoint a Commission to look into the\u00a0grievances of the Buddhists. Mr. Senanayake was most sympathetic to this\u00a0demand and asked the deputation to meet him again and submit a list of names\u00a0of persons who should be appointed to the proposed Commission. However, when\u00a0they met the Prime Minister the next time, his attitude had undergone a\u00a0radical change. He was brusque in his attitude to the deputation which\u00a0comprised a number of Venerable Theras in addition to prominent Buddhist\u00a0leaders. He asked the delegation whether the Buddhists wanted a Fourth\u00a0Refuge in Government in addition to the Three Refuges: Buddha, Dhamma and\u00a0Sangha?\u201d Could it be that the Inner Cabinet was responsible for this change\u00a0of attitude on the part of Mr. D.S. Senanayake??<\/p>\n

It was after this re-buff that the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress took steps\u00a0to appoint the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry at its Annual Sessions at\u00a0Kegalle held on 27th December, 1953.<\/p>\n

Mr. D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952 and his son Mr. Dudley\u00a0Senanayake became the Prime Minister. Mr. Dudley Senanayake resigned inSeptember 1953 and Sir John Kotelawala succeeded him as the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

In March, 1955, the Government appointed a Commission to go into\u00a0the question of taxation and this Commission recommended inter alia that\u00a0the income earned by religious bodies from lands, rents, investments and\u00a0other profit earning activities should be brought under the provisions of\u00a0the Income Tax Ordinance and be taxed like any other commercial undertaking.\u00a0The Government prepared a draft amendment in terms of this recommendation.\u00a0This was, however, vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church.\u00a0 When the\u00a0draft came before the cabinet for discussion, the Rev. Father Peter A.\u00a0Pillai, leader of the Catholic Action Movement in Ceylon, was invited to the\u00a0Cabinet meeting to present the Catholic Church\u2019s point of view. After this\u00a0meeting the proposal to tax the profit \/earnings of non-religious activities\u00a0of religious bodies was quietly dropped by the Government and the Catholic\u00a0Church continued to be exempted from taxation.<\/p>\n

The invitation of an outsider to be present at a Cabinet meeting was quite\u00a0an unprecedented thing in the history of Parliamentary Government.<\/p>\n

It was only in 1959, after a great deal of agitation on the part of the\u00a0Buddhists, that legislation was introduced to bring religious bodies within\u00a0the scope of the Income Tax Ordinance.<\/p>\n

During the years 1954 and 1955 the official language question came\u00a0into the forefront and there was a general demand that Sinhalese should be\u00a0declared the official language of the Country. The Catholic Hierarchy\u00a0realized that it would soon lose its dominant position if Sinhalese was made\u00a0the official language of the country and accordingly advised the Prime\u00a0Minister Sir John Kotelawala to hold a snap election in 1956. It will be\u00a0remembered that 1956 was the year when the 2,500th anniversary of the \u00a0Parinibbana of the Buddha was due to be celebrated and the entire Buddhist\u00a0population of the country was looking forward to this event. The decision to\u00a0dissolve the Parliament and to have a General Election during the Buddha\u00a0Jayanthi Year came as a surprise and a shock to them.<\/p>\n

Janatha\u201d the Lake House Sinhalese evening daily reported in its\u00a0issue of 10th. September, 1955 under the banner headlines: General election
\nis at hand:<\/p>\n

It is learned that a leading member of the Christian Hierarchy\u00a0in the Island, has advised the Prime Minister that the time is most\u00a0opportune to have a general election as the demand to make Sinhala the\u00a0official language was again spreading like a wildfire. This was bound to\u00a0create divisions in the country and if that happens, it would be a serious\u00a0blow to the Government Party\u00a0 . . .\u00a0 This has become a very serious problem\u00a0to the Catholic Hierarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir John Kotelawala, a Buddhist Prime Minister took the advice\u00a0given him by the Catholic Hierarchy and dissolved the Parliament prematurely\u00a0ignoring the vehement opposition of the Buddhist clergy and the laity and\u00a0held the elections during the Buddha Jayanthi Year with disastrous results\u00a0to himself and to his party! \u00a0Such\u00a0was the influence wielded by the Catholic Hierarchy and the Catholic Action\u00a0Movement over the leaders of the United National Party.<\/p>\n

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna. The report of the Buddhist Committee\u00a0of Enquiry was published in February 1956 and Mr. Bandaranaike and all other
\ncandidates fighting on the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna ticket gave an\u00a0undertaking in writing that if their party came into power they would\u00a0implement its proposals. The most important proposal made by the Committee\u00a0was with regard to education. The Committee proposed that all assisted\u00a0schools should be taken over by the State and a unified system of education\u00a0be established.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bandaranaike\u2019s party had a landslide victory at the 1956 elections and\u00a0the pledge to the Buddhists was in no small way responsible for this\u00a0victory. Mr. Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

However, notwithstanding the promise that Mr. Bandaranaike as\u00a0leader of the M.E.P. had given to the people, the Catholic members of the\u00a0new Government, Messrs. Stanley de Zoyza, Jim Munasinghe, Hugh Fernando and\u00a0Aloysius Weerakoon began to assert from public platforms that it was not a
\nthe interests of the country to take over the assisted schools, that the\u00a0demand was made by a few Buddhists extremists, and that the Government had\u00a0never given an undertaking to take over the schools or to establish a\u00a0unified system of education.\u00a0 So, the Catholic Church was somehow able to\u00a0win over Mr. W. Dahanayake, Minister of Education to its own point of view.\u00a0\u00a0Earlier, Mr. Dahanayake had been an ardent advocate of a unified state\u00a0school system and had demanded that Denominationalism must be rooted out\u00a0neck and crop.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August 1959, exactly a month before he met with his tragic\u00a0death, Mr. Bandaranaike gave a firm undertaking to a deputation from the All\u00a0Ceylon Buddhist Congress that he would soon take steps to take over all\u00a0assisted schools and reform the entire system of education.<\/p>\n

The proposed Commission to inquire into the political aspects of\u00a0the Bandaranaike assassination may reveal how for this decision of Mr.\u00a0Bandaranaike contributed to his tragic death.<\/p>\n

It is, however, significant that Mr. Bandaranaike met his death at the hand\u00a0of a Buddhist monk who was a drug addict and that the prime mover of this\u00a0crime was another Buddhist monk who moved closely in Catholic circles.<\/p>\n

We now come to more recent events:<\/p>\n

In the manifesto issued by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party under the\u00a0leadership of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike at the General Elections July,\u00a01960, the party gave a definite undertaking that if it was returned to\u00a0power, it would take over all assisted schools and establish a unified and\u00a0national system of education. Despite this pledge, the party candidate for\u00a0Trincomalee, Mr. ERSR. Coomaraswamy,\u00a0 a Catholic, assured his voters at\u00a0election meetings that the assisted school system will never be disturbed bya Freedom Party Government \u2013 thus showing that a Catholic\u2019s loyalty to his\u00a0Church was above his loyalty to his country, to his people and to his party.\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Coomaraswamy\u2019s statement naturally caused a great deal of\u00a0embarrassment, to the other Freedom Party candidates.<\/p>\n

When the schools take-over bill came before the Parliament,\u00a0Catholic Action tried its utmost to prevent it from becoming law. It\u00a0organized mass protest meetings of Catholics and attempted to get the\u00a0support of Buddhist monks who were managers of schools, to oppose the\u00a0Government move. It organized parents\u2019 rallies, mothers\u2019 rallies and\u00a0students\u2019 rallies. It started a character assassination campaign against the\u00a0Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Education and also the Prime\u00a0Minister. The Bill became law despite the massive Catholic opposition. Once\u00a0the Bill became law, however, Catholic Action hired men and women to occupy\u00a0the Catholic Schools, and thus attempted to prevent the implementation of\u00a0the Law. The Government, however, stood firm and the Hierarchy was compelled\u00a0to get down Cardinal Gracias from India to find a way out of the tangle they\u00a0had created for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Federal Party<\/strong><\/p>\n

To\u00a0what extent the Catholic Church and Catholic Action has been responsible\u00a0bedeviling the relations between the Sinhalese Buddhists and the Tamil\u00a0Hindus it is difficult to say. The Catholic Church however, appears to have\u00a0wielded great influence over Tamil politicians who adopted an anti Sinhala
\npolicy or a separatist policy.\u00a0 Messrs. GG. Ponnambalam and C.\u00a0Suntheralingham recently declared publicly that they took up ministerial\u00a0posts in the Senanayake government on the advice of the Roman Catholic\u00a0Bishop of Jaffna.<\/p>\n

The policy of the Roman Catholic Church since Independence, has\u00a0been to exploit the political and linguistic differences between the\u00a0Sinhalese Buddhists and the Tamil Hindus, and thus prevent these two\u00a0communities from being united. A Hindu \u2013Buddhist Unity would naturally\u00a0militate against the expansionist activities of the Catholic Church both in\u00a0the North and in the South and the Church appear to be determined to prevent\u00a0this.<\/p>\n

In a pamphlet written by Rev. Charles Wickramanayake and circulated among\u00a0the members of the Diocesan Council of the Church of Ceylon in October,\u00a01958, he says: \u201dLong before the politicians raised the cry, a Bishop of God\u00a0in Jaffna is said to have raised the cry, \u201dTamil is in peril\u201d and the\u00a0Christian Church of God in Jaffna is accused of having persisted in this\u00a0policy, even though a Mrs. Menon from India had said that this cry was\u00a0absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Catholic priest may not write to the press without the express\u00a0permission of his Bishop. Canon Law is very clear on the point. It declares\u00a0that any priest who writes articles in daily newspapers or periodicals\u00a0without the permission of his Bishop contravenes Canon 1286 of the Code of\u00a0the Canon Law.\u201d Tamil Catholic priests like Rev. Fr. Xavier S. Thaninayagam\u00a0and A. Mathuranayagam, however, not only wrote to the Press against the\u00a0language policy of the Government and demanded parity of status for Tamil\u00a0and Sinhala as an official language, but also took an active part in protest\u00a0meetings and demonstrations organized by the Federal Party over this issue.\u00a0Rev. Fr. Thaninayagam went so far as to bring grave accusations against the\u00a0Government before foreign audiences. (CDN. 15.8. 1956)<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that these Tamil Catholic priests had the blessings of\u00a0their Hierarchy. We are also aware that Sinhala Catholic priests like\u00a0Reverend Father Joe Quintus Perera who supported the Government\u2019s language\u00a0policy were silenced by the same Hierarchy by threatening him with action\u00a0under the Canon Law.<\/p>\n

Next to the United National party, the Federal party has been\u00a0subjected to the process of Christian penetration\u201d by Catholic Action. The\u00a0Federal party is predominantly a Tamil Party – with only a small handful of\u00a0Muslims. It must be pointed out in this connection that while only 7% of the\u00a0Sinhalese population is Catholic by religion, the percentage of Catholicsamong the Ceylon Tamils is as high as 21%. The pressure of the Pope\u2019s block\u00a0vote\u201d must, therefore, naturally be greater on the Tamil politicians than on\u00a0the Sinhala politicians. This explains why the members of Parliament\u00a0belonging to the Federal Party have become champions of the Catholic Church\u00a0and the Catholic Action Movement, inside and outside parliament.\u00a0 The\u00a0Federal Party has also toed the Catholic Church\u2019s line on all important\u00a0issues that came up before parliament, although their stand has been against\u00a0the interests of the greater majority of the Tamil Hindus.\u00a0 Some such issues\u00a0were the Paddy Lands Bill, the taxation of Religious Bodies Bill, and the \u00a0Schools Takeover Bill. The Federal Party is also for the continuance of the
\nCatholic domination in the Armed Forces although the Tamil Hindus, just as\u00a0much as the Sinhalese Buddhists, have been discriminated against by the\u00a0Catholic High Command in these Forces.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Press.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In\u00a0its task of permeating the temporal order with Christian principles\u201d\u00a0Catholic Action in every country pays special attention to the press.
\nSpeaking of the influence of Catholic Action on the American press Emmet\u00a0McLoughlin says in his book: \u201dAmerican Culture and Catholic Schools\u201d The
\nmost important channel for Catholic censorship and propaganda is still the\u00a0Press. The Hierarchy does its best to keep unfavourable news out of the\u00a0daily papers and our national magazines. This would include such un-American\u00a0activities\u00a0 of the clergy in other parts of the world, negotiations by the\u00a0Vatican with totalitarian powers, questionable actions of the American\u00a0clergy such as the arrest of a priest for drunk and reckless driving\u00a0(especially with a parishioners wife in the same car). This censorship is\u00a0usually achieved through Catholic members of the newspapers\u2019 local staff and\u00a0the ever present Damocles\u2019 Sword of the threat of a subscription boycott by\u00a0the large Catholic public or an advertising boycott of the Catholicmerchants (p140)<\/p>\n

The daily press in Ceylon is no less subservient to the Catholic\u00a0Church than its counterpart in North America. Catholic Action has been very\u00a0successful in infiltrating both the important newspaper groups in Ceylon.\u00a0The Times Group of newspapers is in fact managed and edited by militant\u00a0Catholic Actionists, although some of the important shareholders of the\u00a0group are prominent Buddhists like Messrs. Henry Amarasuriya, and Donald\u00a0Ranaweera. This group of papers is well and truly run as a propaganda\u00a0machine of the Catholic Church supporting what the Church supports and\u00a0opposing what the Church opposes. The policy of the Times Group of papers is\u00a0said to be formulated by no less a person the Archbishop of Colombo himself.(Circa 1963)<\/p>\n

In the course of an address delivered at the presentation of the\u00a0Buddhist Commission Report to the Maha Sangha and the Buddhist public at\u00a0Ananda College on the 4th. February 1956, Mr. L.H. Mettananda referred to\u00a0the Lake House newspapers and said:<\/p>\n

The Roman Catholic Church with its vast resources is openly and blatantly\u00a0exploiting the poverty, the ignorance and the helplessness of the Buddhist\u00a0masses. The Buddhists have no way of ventilating their grievances and\u00a0getting them redressed in this democratic land of ours.\u00a0 The Lake House\u00a0newspapers which support the Government and the Roman Catholic Church pay no\u00a0heed to the grievances of the Buddhists. On the other hand these papers\u00a0publish glowing tributes to the Catholic clergy and nuns and give prominence\u00a0to Roman Catholic Parades and processions. They also suppress any form of\u00a0local news critical of, or detrimental to the Roman Catholic Church. At the\u00a0same time they advise the Buddhists to be tolerant. The Dinamina, the \u00a0Silumina and the Janata fool the fool the Bhikkhus and the Sinhalese\u00a0reading public, while the Daily News and the Observer ridicule the\u00a0Bhikkhus, the Sinhalese teachers and the Ayurvedic physicians and the\u00a0Sinhalese reading public in general. The Government rejoices at all these,\u00a0so does the Roman Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Mettananda went on to say:<\/p>\n

We are asking that the youth of the country be freed from\u00a0missionary control. Today it is not only the education of the young that is\u00a0endangered. The adults receive their education largely through the Press. We\u00a0have no grievance against the Times which is a Catholic controlled\u00a0newspaper. But we have every right to expect the Lake House newspapers: The\u00a0Daily News, the Observer, the Dinamina, the Janata and the Silumina to\u00a0be run as national newspapers. They were started by a great patriot of this\u00a0country, the late D.R Wijewardena, at the request of another patriot the\u00a0late Sir D.B. Jayatilake. It was the late Mr. Wijewardena, who left by will\u00a0two lakhs of rupees for the construction of the University Sangharama. The\u00a0Lake House newspapers are run by his son-in-law, Mr. Esmond Wickremasinghe,\u00a0who happens to be a member of a Christian family. He has filled the\u00a0editorial staff and other key posts of the Lake House with Christians,
\nespecially Roman Catholics. His general policy is to decry the Sinhala\u00a0Language and Buddhism, and to the extole the virtues of Christianity and\u00a0English. He runs his newspapers as official organs of vested interests and\u00a0foreign interests. There is scarcely anything national in his English\u00a0newspapers. But as his income comes chiefly from the Sinhalese reading\u00a0public, he gives his Sinhala newspapers a local look which, however, rapidly\u00a0undergoes a change when it suits him. His inconsistency can be seen from the\u00a0fact that his English newspapers support English as the State language and\u00a0ridicule the Sinhala medium child as a monkey-faced idiot, and Dutugemunu as\u00a0a pot-bellied drunkard, while his Sinhala newspapers appear to support\u00a0Sinhalese as the State language and appear to ridicule the denationalizedsection of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Published by THE\u00a0 BAUDDHA JATIKA BALAGEVAYA 1963\u00a0Chapter 10 Part 1 \u2013 IN POLITICS The very term Catholic Action\u201d was not known even among the non-Catholic English educated intelligentsia of Ceylon until the publication of the report of the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry, or more popularly known as the Buddhist Commission Report, in February 1956. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}