FOR many Catholics, Mary, the Mother of God, has always had a special place in their faith. However, there has been little or no development in the traditional image of Mary or Marian theology.

Some theologians are seeking to reintegrate Mary into current church thinking, especially in the light of a change in women's place in the world and in the church. One such is a little known Sri Lankan priest, Father Tissa Balasuriya, who has been excommunicated by the church.

Father Balasuriya's book, Mary and Human Liberation, is the stated reason for his fall. Dedicated to his mother and to all the women who have enriched his life, it was published in English in 1990. In it, Father Balasuriya suggests that Mary has been interpreted from the perspective of a maledominated church.

"Is it possible that the self interest of the decision makers and power holders had a role to play in the development of Marian theology?" he asks. "Has the image of Mary been used against rather than for women?" he wonders. "Has the impact of such a presentation been one of tranquilising Christians, especially if those men and women live in a society of exploitation and limited social justice?"

He says the identification of Mary as virgin mother, free of all sin and temptation to sin, passive, obedient and unquestioning, conceals a woman who had the most intimate relationship with Jesus, to whom she gave her own flesh and blood. The passive Mary, Father Balasuriya suggests, comes from a patriarchal world view where power resides in the hands of a few ruling men.

He advocates a reexamination of three Marian dogmas; the Immaculate Conception, Mary's divine motherhood and her virginity. Nowhere does he deny any of these teachings, but he is concerned about their consequences for ordinary women and wonders why these aspects of Mary are the ones to which the church has chosen to give the greatest emphasis.

There have, of course, been some positive consequences from these images. Marian spirituality has inspired millions to seek holiness and Mary has brought solace and consolation in times of anxiety, but the heavy emphasis on docility and obedience has often led to a passive form of piety which has failed to foster any link to a transforming social consciousness. Rather, it has been suggested that it is the path to holiness.

Clearly, what Father Balasuriya wants is a deconstruction of the traditional image of Mary, to ascertain the more human one who was closer to Christ and his mission than any other human being in the scriptures. But is this the stuff of heresy?

Before he was excommunicated, Father Balasuriya was asked by the Vatican to sign a declaration of faith which included the statement: "I acknowledge that Christ, in calling only men as his apostles, did not proceed from sociological or cultural motives peculiar to his time but rather he acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. Therefore, I firmly accept and hold that the church has no authority whatsoever to confer - priestly ordination on women.

He refused to sign it. It is believed this is more likely to be the reason for his excommunication.

In Mary and Human Liberation, he says it is difficult to demonstrate that Jesus created a male priesthood. This view is no different to that of the Vatican's own commission, set up to examine the scriptural evidence for or against the ordination of women. Its opinion was that there was no definitive evidence on which to argue against the ordination of women.

Father Balasuriya also posed two further relevant questions. Is it possible that a God who could bring about the virgin birth could not find it possible to ordain women? Is woman, who formed Christ in her womb and nourished him with her own body and blood, unfit to fulfil the functions of Christian priesthood?

At the World Council of Churches consultation at Sheffield in 1981, Father Balasuriya said "there is no reason, biologically, psychologically, pastorally, theologically or spiritually, why we cannot have a yellow, brown, black or white woman as Pope".

Canon 1364 of the Roman Catholic Church says the penalty of excommunication is incurred automatically upon the commission of heresy. The Pope approved the notification of Father Balasuriya's excommunication. An appeal was lodged in January with the Apostolic Signature (the Vatican body responsible for determining whether the procedures of canon law have been followed). Father Balasuriya has now been informed that the signature has no competence to hear an appeal, as the Pope had approved the notice of excommunication.

The severity of the Vatican's response in this case outweighs any sanction against other theologians in the recent past, such as Boff, Kung, and Curran, who also disturbed the Vatican's mandarins. Partly as a result, a human rights movement is growing within the Catholic church in Sri Lanka and across Asia.