Activists speaks about corruption in the Catholic Church

By David Saakyan
September 26th, 2010
Section: Featured - News

Blase Bonpane, an activist and author known for his work against human rights abuses leads a lecture about the Catholic Church corruption on Thursday night at CSUN. Photo Credit: Natalia Bereznyuk / Staff Photographer

The Catholic Church was the center of discussion in a lecture given by internationally acclaimed humanist and activist Blase Bonpane.

The lecture, “Sexual Abuse, Cover-Up, and the History of the Catholic Church” was held in Sierra Hall’s Whitsett Room Thursday night. The lecture was about the history of corruption within the Catholic Church.

“The Vatican needs to end a cult of silence,” Bonpane said. “Bishops are told to send their evidence to the Vatican immediately as a matter of secrecy.”

Those who did not have a reservation to the event had the opportunity to watch  the lecture through a live video broadcast in Sierra Hall 120.

Bonpane’s lecture was part-autobiographical and part-informative.

Sharing personal experiences of various episodes in his life with current humanitarian and religious issues, the 81-year-old activist spoke of the current taboos that exist within the Catholic Church such as misuse of power, sexual abuse, pedophilia, celibacy and war.

Bonpane began his lecture with a historical and religious overview of the split of Christianity and the rise of political power of the Vatican over Europe and the new world.

Bonpane’s categorization of the church and the clergy as a “cult” interested  a CSUN student, Sam Chang, 20, who attended the lecture.

“The best part of the lecture was when he (Bonpane) compared the Roman Catholic Church to a cult,” said the business management major. “At this point, the speaker was extremely passionate about this aspect of the church.”

While working with the students at the University of Guatemala in the 1970’s, Bonpane said he soon found himself partaking in a number of political and social demonstrations in an effort to assist dialogue between Christianity and social justice.

“Because of our work in the field, people referred to us as ‘guerillas of peace,’ Bonpane said. “Many of us (including myself) were expelled from Guatemala as a result of this.”

Upon returning back to the United States after witnessing the bloodshed and animosity that was occurring in Central America, Bonpane said he was sent to Hawaii, a move which he said he thinks was made to keep him silent.

“By the time I came back to the headquarters, I was sent off to Hawaii and I realized I was under a gag order of no writing or speaking about what happened in Latin America,” Bonpane said.

It was during this time when Bonpane was interviewed by the “Washington Post.”

The story titled “Our Latin Vietnam” was an in-depth piece criticizing the various military and political injustices that were occurring in Latin America as a result of U.S. intervention.

Bonpane also spoke heavily about the topic of exceptionalism within the Catholic Church.

Bonpane said various clergymen and religious figures within the church were given special privileges and at times  were not required to follow social rules.

“Sexual abuse is found in every walk of life,” Bonpane said. “The clergy has been responsible for the deaths of tens and millions because they thought of themselves as being exceptional.”

Bonpane also spoke on the relationship between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo.

A CSUN student that attended the lecture found the Pope’s power in using painters such as Michelangelo as a major problem.

“I think the strongest message of this lecture was when he talked about Michelangelo and how he painted for the Pope,” said Ashneel Chand, 18, business marketing major. “This analogy meant that there are problems all throughout the history of the church and this is why there’s an internal problem within the church today.”

Bonpane’s critique of American media was related to his original topic of societies that belonged to various cults as a result of political and social injustices.

Bonpane said the American media was a “garbage can,”  and criticized the way wealthy businesses and conglomerates pay hate mongers in the media to speak night-after-night, ultimately influencing the way Americans think.

“We are wonderful at creating enemies, because our people are in a cult, just like the Catholic Church is a cult that praises pedophiles,” Bonpane said.

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  • Catherine Campbell

    Blase Bonpane: I applaud your conviction about the evil of the Catholic church, and Ii have come to realize the little boys were a trade-off for forbidding clergy their natural right to be with woman. But I believe theclergy were the handma…iden of wealth and power and their very purpose was to enforce the Tabu on Birth Control – creating slavery and low cost labor through over-population= poverty, resulting in wealth for the few. A recent example of religion working for the imperialist was the Afghanistan constitution’s first rule was the same as early catholic church – ‘a woman must never refuse her husband’. For an in-depth anthropological explanation of patriarchal religion’s agenda of over-population poverty creating wealth and power for the few is “The Great Cosmic Mother” by Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor.

  • Catherine Campbell

    Blase Bonpane: I applaud your conviction about the evil of the Catholic church, and Ii have come to realize the little boys were a trade-off for forbidding clergy their natural right to be with woman. But I believe the clergy were the handmaiden of wealth and power and their very purpose was to enforce the Tabu on Birth Control – creating slavery and low cost labor through over-population= poverty, resulting in wealth for the few. A recent example of religion working for the imperialist was the Afghanistan constitution’s first rule was the same as early catholic church – ‘a woman must never refuse her husband’. For an in-depth anthropological explanation of patriarchal religion’s agenda of over-population poverty creating wealth and power for the few is “The Great Cosmic Mother” by Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor.

  • Blase Bonpane

    I want to thank David Saakyan for his article in the SUNDIAL.

    But David, if you review the context I think you will see various
    qualifications which I made in using the word “cult.”

    I did not intend to use the word in a universal sense.

    My position is the following:

    If you have a completely non-critical view of your country, you are in a cult of country and you become an enemy of progress in your country.

    If you have a completely non-critical view of your Church, you are in a cult of Church and you become an enemy of progress in your Church.

  • Cole Miller

    Dr. Bonpane focused more on the use of dogma — religious, ideological, patriotic, etc — as a convenient cover for criminal acts. There is a fairly obvious parallel between the Catholic Church’s secrecy and obstruction of justice with respect to sexual crimes, and the secrecy and obstruction of justice with respect to torture and other war crimes that is enforced by our own government. Both imply a cultish devotion to the idea that the law applies to others, but never to ourselves — that we enjoy a special dispensation that permits us to commit the most repellent and inhuman crimes in service to some “higher good” that we profess to represent. While cultivating such an attitude is useful to those who wield political power, it is the opposite of piety and a negation of all spiritual values.

    Dr. Bonpane was also a priest for many years, and he discussed liberation theology at some length. Liberation theology began as a movement among Catholics to actually apply the teachings of Christ in the real world by adopting the “preferential option for the poor.” It is a genuine expression of piety and spiritual values, and a source of hope for hundreds of millions of human beings who are menaced by corporatism and its enforcers: death squads, drones, forced dispossession, torture chambers, and all the delicate ministrations of state terrorism. Dr. Bonpane’s presentation was much more nuanced and encompassing than this article suggests. That said, your article is well written, and I wish you best of success in your career.