Exposing
the Hypocrisy of The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka
In The Aftermath of Apostolic Father Lalith Aponso's
CD Launch at BMICH on 19th July 2008--
Is This The Way to Consolidate Religious Amity
with Buddhists?
---- The Centre for Buddhist
Action-----
20th July Sinhala and English Versions of
Catholic Messenger/Gnanartha Pradeepa
The insensitive and hurtful nature of the Catholic Church against Buddhist
sentiments was explained in an article by The Centre for Buddhist Action
in July 2008 titled "Insensitive and Hurtful Agenda of The Catholic
Church in Sri Lanka" when they explained the manner in which Apostolic
Rev.Father Lalith Aponso insulted one of the most respected and revered
Buddhist Monks in Sri Lanka the late Most Venerable Balangoda Ananda
Maithriya Nayake Thero by distorting the truth through his much publicized
advertising stunt to promote a CD launch titled "Life After Death
and Karma" at the BMICH on 19th July 2008. The previous day 18th
July happened to be the death anniversary of the late Venerable Monk.
From April this year, this Apostolic Father placed advertisements,
got journalists to write articles to the paper and held a TV interview
on TNL about his much publicized CD launch on "Life After Death
and Karma" which he said was first recorded in cassette form and
had been listened to by the late Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maithriya
Nayake Thero in 1994. He even quoted one sentence which was supposedly
a statement made by the late Venerable Monk which he used for his advantage
in the hope that he could draw massive young Buddhist crowds to the
BMICH Main Hall on 19th July. The entire city of Colombo and even suburban
areas were pasted with colour posters depicting Ven.Ananda Maithriya
Thero on one side and Lalith Aponso on the other side informing the
public about the CD launch. The first batch appeared just the day before
Wesak Full Moon which is a very sacred day for Buddhists and the second
batch appeared before Poson Full Moon the idea he tried to portray was
that his sermon was connected to Buddhist philosophy on Rebirth. Tickets
for this event were priced at Rs.1,500/-, Rs.2,000/- and Rs.2,500/-
To make the event even more glamorous, he invited famous singers who
fortunately did not turn up for the event. Chanting of Vannams and Kandyan
dancing conducted Lalith Aponso to the Main Hall of the BMICH which
was 75% empty which had surprised him very much as he had expected to
have a full house. Instead of the large numbers of Buddhist Monks he
had expected to see inside the hall, he was able to witness only about
25 Buddhist Monks of whom 22 had been very young Samanera Monks probably
brought in by Ven. Ambegoda Kusalagnana Thero who chaired the proceedings
and also appeared on TV to promote Father Lalith Aponso.
Now comes the revealing part of the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church.
During a period of 3 months from April 2008 upto 19th July 2008 while
Father Lalith Aponso was doing his commercial advertising, the Bishop's
Conference and the Archbishop Rt.Rev. Oswald Gomis who is head of the
Catholic Church in Sri Lanka all kept dead silent in the hope that the
event would end up as a massive success we think. It is extremely difficult
to imagine that an event organised with such details on top of which
an unimaginable amount of money would have been spent on posters, newspaper
advertisements, printing of entrance tickets plus the purchase and recording
costs of those CDs could have been done without the blessings of the
Catholic Church.
In the "Messenger" which is the English weekly of the Catholic
Church and "Gnanartha Pradeepa" its Sinhala version of 20th
July (mind you one day after the event), The Bishop's Conference issues
a statement which they state was to inform the public that the person
named Lalith Aponso was not a Catholic Father nor an Apostate of the
Catholic Church. Both the English and Sinhala reports are attached herewith
for easy reference to enable readers to grasp fully how the Catholic
Church works. This, hopefully will also enlighten and open the eyes
of some of our well known Buddhist Monks who are "hob-knobbing
with them" in the form of Inter-religious amity and harmony!
The big question is- are we to believe that none of the members of
The Bishop's Conference did not know or see the eye catching posters
pasted on either side of the streets of Colombo for two months? Did
they not wish to enquire from Lalith Aponso why he was doing it using
the name of The Catholic Church? If they are so concerned about building
religious amity with Buddhists, why did they remain "deaf, dumb
and blind" for 3 months without taking necessary disciplinary action
against a man who was "posing off as an Apostate" if he did
not belong to the Catholic Church? Did the Bishop's Conference not feel
it to be their duty and responsibility to respect our Buddhist Monks
more so those that had departed from this worldly life like the late
Most Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maithriya Thero? If Father Lalith Aponso
was " an imposter" why did they not make a public statement
to that effect in the Sri Lankan newspapers for the real public to know
that he did not have the blessings of The Catholic Church for this event?
We remember all too vividly how the Catholic Church went into "express
action mode" when news arrived about the release of Dan Brown's
film "Da Vinci Code" which was permitted to be screened even
in Italy -the home of the Catholic Headquarters- BUT they got it banned
from being imported or screened in Sri Lanka! However, they opted to
turn a blind eye when one of their supposed Apostates insulted one of
our most respected Buddhist Monks who passed away 10 years ago. We also
remember how they went to the extent of lodging a police complaint at
Colombo Police Station and sealed a publishing house in Colombo when
they heard that a book critical and unfavourable towards Catholic beliefs
and sentiments was about to go into the bookstores-they burnt the entire
stock that was printed!
With all the slogans of " inter-religious amity and harmony"
that the Catholic Church Fathers dole out to unsuspecting Buddhists,
this is proof that their intentions are not sincere and honest but a
slogan needed to be used when it suits them and to their advantage.
Let us hope that this will certainly be an "eye-opener" to
all Buddhist Monks who move around with them and think that they are
truly sincere. Under these circumstances, can we ever hope to get just
and fair redress in situations like "unethical conversions"
where it would be the Christians who would be the perpetrators and Buddhists
would be the victims? Would it not be another case of the Sinhala saying
" Horage Ammagen Pena Ahanawa Wage"
The Buddhist viewpoint on religious harmony and amity is certainly
not this method but true and honest reciprocal understanding and respect
for one another irrespective of one's religious beliefs. Buddhists have
so far never ever overstepped the boundaries as much as the Christians
have done so far. Let us sincerely hope that what we witnessed with
the Lalith Aponso CD launch on "Life After Death and Karma"
and the manner in which the Bishop's Conference and more so The Archbishop
Rt.Rev.Father Oswald Gomis acted in this particular instance. If they
genuinely wished to warn the general public as it is stated in the Catholic
weekly, then publishing such a statement in their own weekly is not
the way to do it.
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