Dissident group seeks to divide Catholics in Bolivia

Lima, Peru, May 6, 2011 / 15:46 pm

Bishop Cristobal Bialasik of Oruro, Bolivia charged that a dissident group is seeking to “confuse and divide” Bolivians with ideas contrary to the Catholic Church's teachings.
 
On April 29 the Bolivian daily La Patria published an article by the group Somos Iglesia (We are Church). The dissidents demanded that the Diocese of Oruro ordain to the diaconate six “brothers belonging to a prophetic and liberating Church.”

The bishop responded, slamming the group for promoting dissent along with others “who do not have the support of the Church,” such as theologian Hans Kung and Catholics for a Free Choice.
 
The bishop also stressed that the diaconate is not “a promotion, an award or a prize, but rather a vocation.”  Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he said, “(i)t is solely the Church’s responsibility and right to call a person to receive ordination.”
 
“According to my research,” he told CNA, Somos Iglesia “promotes everything that is against the teachings of the Church.  They promote the ordination of women and homosexuals, they promote abortion and contraception.”
 
The dissident group “has not consulted with me or come to see me.  They have arbitrarily made the decision to publish an article that contradicts the entire spirit of the Diocese of Oruro’s pastoral ministry,” the bishop said.