What do you think?
Rate this book
Imagine No Religion: The Autobiography of Blase Bonpane: The Autobiography of Blase Bonpane
This is the personal story of the life of Blase Bonpane, a vanguard practitioner of liberation theology and a former Maryknoll priest.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council 1962-1965 many religious people, especially those serving in Latin America, began to understand a spirituality that transcended sectarianism. Having come from an upwardly mobile Italian American family marked by Southern Italian anti-clericalism, Blase was accustomed to hearing his parents express real differences with their institutional church. He went into the seminary despite the avid protests of his parents.
BlaseÆs odyssey takes us from his high school and college years, through his service in Guatemala during a violent revolution, to his expulsion from that country for subversion. After receiving gag order from the Church, which he could not in good conscience accept, Blase met with the editorial board of the Washington Post and released all of the material he had regarding the U.S. military presence in Guatemala. This action led to his separation from the Maryknoll Fathers.
Blase accepted a teaching post at UCLA. While serving in academia, he met the former Maryknoll Sister Theresa Killeen, who had served in Southern Chile. They married in 1970. Their adventures include working directly with Cesar Chavez at his headquarters in La Paz, California, building solidarity with the Central American Revolution, forming the Office of the Americas, working in the forefront of the international movement for justice and peace, and raising two children.
Blase worked on the ground for international peace in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Japan and Iraq. He led the U.S. contingent of the International March for Peace in Central America from Panama to Mexico in 1985-1986.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council 1962-1965 many religious people, especially those serving in Latin America, began to understand a spirituality that transcended sectarianism. Having come from an upwardly mobile Italian American family marked by Southern Italian anti-clericalism, Blase was accustomed to hearing his parents express real differences with their institutional church. He went into the seminary despite the avid protests of his parents.
BlaseÆs odyssey takes us from his high school and college years, through his service in Guatemala during a violent revolution, to his expulsion from that country for subversion. After receiving gag order from the Church, which he could not in good conscience accept, Blase met with the editorial board of the Washington Post and released all of the material he had regarding the U.S. military presence in Guatemala. This action led to his separation from the Maryknoll Fathers.
Blase accepted a teaching post at UCLA. While serving in academia, he met the former Maryknoll Sister Theresa Killeen, who had served in Southern Chile. They married in 1970. Their adventures include working directly with Cesar Chavez at his headquarters in La Paz, California, building solidarity with the Central American Revolution, forming the Office of the Americas, working in the forefront of the international movement for justice and peace, and raising two children.
Blase worked on the ground for international peace in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Japan and Iraq. He led the U.S. contingent of the International March for Peace in Central America from Panama to Mexico in 1985-1986.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2011
10 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Blase Bonpane
12 books4 followersBlase Bonpane is Director of the Office of the Americas (based in Los Angeles, California) which he co-founded with his wife Theresa in 1983. His attention has been primarily on human rights and identification of illegal and immoral aspects of domestic and foreign policies of the United States.
Bonpane served as a Maryknoll priest in Guatemala and was assigned by the Cardinal of Central America as National Advisor to Centro Capacitacion Social, a center for university and high school students working in the field with indigenous people on matters of health, literacy and labor organization. He was expelled from that country in 1967 in the midst of a revolution. (Washington Post, February 4, 1968, "A Priest in Guatemala.")
He played a significant role in the historic dialogue in Latin America between Christianity and Marxism. (Guatemala: Occupied Country, Eduardo Galeano, Monthly Review Press, 1969) Blase Bonpane led investigative delegations to Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica and Peru. He traveled through the conflictive zones of Chiapas, Mexico together with Bishop Samuel Ruiz on a series of peace missions and served on the board of SICSAL, a hemispheric ecumenical secretariat based in Mexico City. He also participated in peace missions to El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador and Iraq. (See the Blase Bonpane Collection, Department of Special Collections, UCLA Research Library; Collection 1590).
The third edition of Bonpane's book, "Guerrillas of Peace; Liberation Theology and the Central American Revolution", originally published by South End Press, was published by toExcel in 2000. A peace trilogy of his books has been published by Red Hen Press,Guerrillas of Peace on the Air, Second Printing 2002, "Common Sense for the 21st Century', Second Printing, 2010, and "Civilization is Possible", 2008. Under the auspices of the Oral History Program at UCLA Blase Bonpane completed the book "The Central American Solidarity Movement",Copyright 2005, by The Regents of the University of California.
Blase Bonpane's autobiography, "Imagine No Religion", published by Red Hen Press, is currently available on Amazon in both hardcover and e-book form.
Bonpane received his PhD in Social Science from University of California Irvine in 1984. He has served on the faculties of the University of California Los Angeles, California State University Northridge, and California State University Los Angeles.
He hosts the radio program "World Focus" on Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles at 10:00 am each Sunday (90.7 FM) as well as internationally from the KPFK site.
Blase Bonpane was a leader of the International March for Peace in Central America, December 10, 1985-January 27, 1986. This venture from Panama to Mexico included some 30 nations and 400 participants.
Bonpane served as a Maryknoll priest in Guatemala and was assigned by the Cardinal of Central America as National Advisor to Centro Capacitacion Social, a center for university and high school students working in the field with indigenous people on matters of health, literacy and labor organization. He was expelled from that country in 1967 in the midst of a revolution. (Washington Post, February 4, 1968, "A Priest in Guatemala.")
He played a significant role in the historic dialogue in Latin America between Christianity and Marxism. (Guatemala: Occupied Country, Eduardo Galeano, Monthly Review Press, 1969) Blase Bonpane led investigative delegations to Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica and Peru. He traveled through the conflictive zones of Chiapas, Mexico together with Bishop Samuel Ruiz on a series of peace missions and served on the board of SICSAL, a hemispheric ecumenical secretariat based in Mexico City. He also participated in peace missions to El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador and Iraq. (See the Blase Bonpane Collection, Department of Special Collections, UCLA Research Library; Collection 1590).
The third edition of Bonpane's book, "Guerrillas of Peace; Liberation Theology and the Central American Revolution", originally published by South End Press, was published by toExcel in 2000. A peace trilogy of his books has been published by Red Hen Press,Guerrillas of Peace on the Air, Second Printing 2002, "Common Sense for the 21st Century', Second Printing, 2010, and "Civilization is Possible", 2008. Under the auspices of the Oral History Program at UCLA Blase Bonpane completed the book "The Central American Solidarity Movement",Copyright 2005, by The Regents of the University of California.
Blase Bonpane's autobiography, "Imagine No Religion", published by Red Hen Press, is currently available on Amazon in both hardcover and e-book form.
Bonpane received his PhD in Social Science from University of California Irvine in 1984. He has served on the faculties of the University of California Los Angeles, California State University Northridge, and California State University Los Angeles.
He hosts the radio program "World Focus" on Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles at 10:00 am each Sunday (90.7 FM) as well as internationally from the KPFK site.
Blase Bonpane was a leader of the International March for Peace in Central America, December 10, 1985-January 27, 1986. This venture from Panama to Mexico included some 30 nations and 400 participants.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 29, 2012
I was amazed at the detail this priest uncovered of government and charitable corruption. Fascinating read!
June 23, 2019
Chose the book as Blasé Bonpane had passed away this year and was held in high regard by Noam Chomsky. Interesting autobiography, Blase was moved to address injustice especially in Latin and Central America. A lot of the work he was involved in got little or no press in the U.S. Very humble but also very strongly opinionated particularly on religion and how religion is used to divide as opposed to uniting people
November 15, 2023
A memoir from an LA-based priest. He was a philosopher that worked for peace and social justice as the US intervened in Central America in the 80's.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews