Charles Buswell, former bishop of Pueblo, championed social causes, peace
Pueblo Chieftain
Published June 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Charles Buswell led Pueblo diocese for 20 years starting in 1959.
Charles Buswell, the former Roman Catholic bishop of Pueblo, has died at age 94.
Buswell, who had been in declining health for the past few years, died Saturday.
Buswell led the Pueblo diocese for 20 years starting in 1959 and is remembered for helping ease racial tensions in the 1960s and 1970s and championing social justice causes.
He was appointed to lead the Pueblo diocese by Pope John XXIII, the pontiff who would later convene the Second Vatican Council to help modernize the church. Buswell attended all of the council's sessions and promoted its spirit of reform and openness.
Buswell started a program that allowed lay people to study theology and then assist in pastoral programs. He also encouraged diocesan and parish officials to seek out and invite women and minorities to participate in church life.
He decided to close Pueblo's struggling parochial school system in 1971, believing that it was better not to offer a Catholic education at all than to offer it only to those who could pay high tuition.
Buswell, who often poked fun of the hierarchical operations of the church, lived in the mansion purchased by the diocese but routinely answered the door himself. When he was in better health, he could also be found serving food and eating with the homeless at the Pueblo Community Soup Kitchen.
Buswell, an Oklahoma native, impressed Pueblo residents during his installation Mass when he delivered part of his sermon in broken Spanish delivered with a slight twang. He didn't learn the language properly until he traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico, after his retirement in 1979.
After stepping down as bishop, Buswell regularly participated in peace rallies. In October 2003, he participated in an anti-war march in a wheelchair.
Buswell was born Oct. 15, 1913, in Homestead, Okla., the fourth of five children. He was ordained in 1939 in the diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa.
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