Name Charles Buswell Posthumous style none | Religious style Monsignor Spoken style Your Excellency | |
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Died June 14, 2008, Pueblo, Colorado, United States Education American College of the Immaculate Conception | ||
Reference style The Most Reverend | ||
Charles Albert Buswell (October 15, 1913 – June 14, 2008) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Pueblo from 1959 to 1979. At the time of his death, he was one of the oldest bishops in the Church.
Biography
Charles Buswell was born in Homestead, Oklahoma, to Charles and Bridget Buswell. However, the family moved to Oklahoma City shortly afterwards. He received his primary and secondary education at the cathedral’s St. Joseph School, studied for two years at St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas, and then entered St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri, in 1933.
After studying theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, Buswell entered in 1936 the American College in Leuven, Belgium, where he was known as "both a serious student and a congenial companion among his fellow seminarians." He also served as Prefect and assistant editor of The American College Bulletin during his studies. Buswell was eventually ordained to the priesthood on July 9, 1939.
Upon his return to the United States, he was named assistant pastor of a Tonkawa parish and of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Oklahoma City. Buswell, after being made diocesan Vice-Chancellor, became the first pastor of Christ the King Parish in 1947. At Christ the King, he placed emphasis on the greater involvement of the laity. He was raised to the rank of a Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness in 1949, and later a Domestic Prelate of His Holiness in 1955.
On August 8, 1959, Buswell was appointed the second Bishop of Pueblo, Colorado, by Pope John XXIII. He was consecrated on the following September 30 by Bishop Victor Reed, with Bishops Stephen Leven and Glennon Flavin serving as co-consecrators. Buswell attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and later described the Council's mission as making the Church "a dynamic organism to penetrate the world with a spirit of truth and light" and not "a static remnant of past glory". The Bishop also spoke of opening the Church's windows "to let in fresh air and bring in a new vision that prepares the world for new responsibility for the world in which we live." Following the introduction of the Mass in English, he criticized the wording of the Gloria.
In 1973, the Vatican ordered that the practice of separating a child's first Communion from first confession, for psychological purposes, be stopped. Buswell responded by saying, "I am convinced that the reception of first Communion before first confession is based on good theology, is rooted in solid findings of the behavioral sciences, and is excellent pastoral practice". He promised to continue the practice until the Vatican's decree received the "mature consideration" of American bishops and educators. During one of his Sunday visits in 1976 to the parishes of his diocese, he once introduced himself to a five-year-old girl at a Mass as "Charlie." Following the end of the Mass, the little girl said, "Nice show, Charlie!". He resigned as Pueblo's bishop on September 19, 1979, after twenty years of service.
A frequent of his alma mater of the American College in Leuven, Buswell served as “Pastor in Residence” there from 1985 to 1986. For the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the College in 2006, the Bishop was awarded the DeBecker Medal. Although unable to attend the ceremony, he was presented with the medal in the following December.