Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6 — Julv 24,1969
ON BISHOP S ROLE
Munich Archdiocese
Criticizes Magazine
MUNICH, Germany (NC)
— The Munich archdiocese
has criticized German
j o u r n alists-particularly the
magazine Der Spiegel -for its
handling of the story on the
role of Auxiliary Bishop
Matthias Defregger of Munich
in the execution of Italian
partisans in World War II.
Early in July, Bishop
Defregger was identified by
the state prosecutor in
Frankfurt as the man who, as
a World War II German Army
captain, handed^ on an order
for the reprisal shooting of 17
unarmed Italian villagers in
Filetto di Camarda.
The arch diocesan
statement accused the
magazine of seeking “to
swing at Bishop Defregger
and to hit the Church.”
The statement also
accused Der Spiegel of
playing down the
prosecutor’s finding of May,
1968, six months before
Bishop Defre g ger’s
consecration, that no action
could be taken on the slaying
under internationally
accepted norms dealing with
the treatment of hostages in
guerrilla warfare.
The archdiocesan
statement also blamed Der
Spiegel for not mentioning
that the original investigation
of the Filetto di Camarda
affair were not directed
against Bishop Defregger but
against his commander, from
whom the execution order
had come.
Der Spiegel had also
claimed that Bishop
Defregger retained his liking
for his former comrades in
arms.
The magazine said that, at
a reunion in 1961, he
celebrated Mass for some
1,000 men, who had been
members of the unit to which
he had belonged.
According to the
magazine, the then Father
Defregger said: “What grew
up in the dust of the Russian
steppe, in Caucasian fields, in
the bursting of grenades, also
braves the materialism of our
days.”
Church sources here,
however, said that Bishop
Defregger maintains no
special friendship for the
members of the army unit,
but, as a priest, he could not
refuse an invitation to say
Mass.
Julius Cardinal Doepfner
of Munich earlier released a
statement saying that Bishop
Defregger did everything he
could to prevent the
executions.
“Only when Defregger saw
no other possibilities to stop
the carrying out of the order
did he give it to a lieutenant,
who carried it out,” the
cardinal said.
The cardinal said he knew
of the bishop’s role in the
killings before his
appointment as auxiliary
bishop, but added that he
became convinced that,
according to international law
for warfare, “no culpable
deed was committed.”
“Human understanding,”
the cardinal said, “cannot be
refused for a man such as
Auxiliary Bishop Defregger,
who in a period of deep inner
conflict made a decision from
which he has always
suffered.”
The cardinal further said
that to ease the horrible
situation for the villagers
Bishop Defregger “let the
women and children be
removed to spare them the
terrible sight.”
Bishop Defregger, who has
admitted his role in the
executions and claimed he
did everything he could to
avert them, is reported in
seclusion in the Alps.
PHILADELPHIA (NC) -
Father Thomas W. Wassel,
now pastor of St. Philip Neri
parish, has for 20 years
doubled as chaplain of the
largest fresh water port in the
world. His waterfront
“parish” extends roughtly
from Wilmington, Del., to
Fairless Hills, Pa.
In his 20 years as port
chaplain, he has befriended
countless seamen and
administered the Last
Sacraments to dying men
aboard ships. He has also
shown the knack of touching
the souls of thousands of men
who handle the Port of
Philadelphia’s $2 billion
annual cargo and the
hundreds of thousands of
merchant seamen who pass
through the port each year
aboard its 12,000 vessels.
Father Wassel’s permanent
“parishioners” are the
checkers, pier guards,
longshoremen and stevedores
who load and unload the 50
million tons of cargo handled
by the port. His transient
flock includes, for example,
an Irish lad, or a Liberian
sailor, or a native of Goa.
Father Wassel lumps them
all under the all-inclusive
term “my waterfront guys.”
He has organized the Rudder
Club for waterfront
Catholics, which he calls his
“right arm.” He has also won
the respect of many men of
other faiths who are proud to
share in his work.
Father Wassel began
working as port chaplain
before he was officially given
the duty. As assistant pastor
at a nearby parish, he offered
Mass each Sunday in St.
Peter’s Chapel, overlooking
the Delaware River on
bustling Pier 98, and cared
for the spiritual needs of the
men who worked the
sprawling South Wharves
area.
He still offers Mass on
Sundays and holydays at Pier
98. In addition, he hears
confessions, “anywhere
there’s room,” conducts
Stations of the Cross during
Lent, answers emergency
calls, and roams the
waterfront, holding
i n n u merable little priv ate
chats with men whose
problems range over the
whole spectrum of human
frailty-domestic troubles,
labor inequities, financial
difficulties, moral woes,
aching loneliness, spiritual
crises, long neglect of church
and sacraments.
In his office at St. Philip
Neri rectory, Father Wassel
has numerous plaques and
assorted souvenirs of his years
as port chaplain, including a
plaque which describes him as
“Philadelphia Waterfront’s
Man of the Year.”
PORT CHAPLAIN, Father Thomas W. Wassel, combines a mid-city pastorate in Philadelphia with
his work as pastor of the largest fresh water port in the world. Here he visits with men of the Port
Melbourne. Spiritual care of the waterfront’s permanent workers and visiting seamen is Father
Wassell’s task as a “port pastor,” like many other priests of the Apostolate of the Sea at ports
ringing the U.S. coastline and in the inland waterways. (NC Photos)
ST. PETER’S CHAPEL on Pier 98, Philadelphia, is the site of a 10 a.m. Mass every Sunday and
holy day for longshoremen and mariners. Father Thomas W. Wassel, port chaplain as well as
mid-city pastor, prepares for Mass. (NC Photos)
Waterfront Pastor Has
6 International Parish 9
SUBCOMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY L4BOR
Missionary’s Tape
Recorder Caught
Up In Red Tape
ST. COLUMBANS, Neb.
(NC)--The Young Society of
St. Columban Missioner, for
obvious reasons, requested he
remain nameless and his place
of assignment be kept
anonymous.
But this is how his letter
read: “I was glad to receive
your letter last week. The
tape recording you sent also
arrived but I haven’t been
able to get it out of the post
office yet.
“I received a notice from
the post office two weeks
ago, telling me there was a
package. A few days later I
went down to pick it up, but
found that packages can only
be picked up in the mornings.
“Next day I returned and
found that packages can be
picked up every morning
except Thursdays, Saturdays
and Sundays. It was a
Thursday.
“When I returned Friday
they asked for identification
which, of course, I didn’t
have with me.
“The following Monday I
returned with passport and
signed for the package. Then
they said, ‘Come back for it
in a few more days.’ I asked
why and they declared, ‘We
never release a package until
we can verify your
identification.’
“By this time I had lost a
little of my composure and
told them to forget the whole
thing and send the package
back to the U.S. But the
official solemnly said that
was impossible for 90 days,
until the proper time had
expired. So I just left.
“A week later, after I’d
cooled off, I decided to give
it another try. When I got
there I discovered that the
papers I’d signed the week
before had expired, so I
would have to sign new
papers. Of course, I would
again need identification and,
of course, I didn’t have my
passport with me.
“So the tape is still in the
post office and I doubt if I’ll
go near the place again.
Actually I wouldn’t mind so
much except that the post
office is a 45-minute walk
from my mission. Tomorrow
I’m being transferred even
farther away. So I hope you
won’t mind if your tape is
returned. . .someday.”
A SHIPBOARD SICK CALL brings Father Wassell from St.
Philip Neri Church, where he is pastor, to the cabin of ship’s
carpenter Michael J. McKenna, a Port Melbourne crew member
and a native of the Island of Barra, Scotland. (NC Photos)
Tempers Flared At Farm Workers Hearing
BY KIM LARSEN
WASHINGTON (NC) -
Tempers flared in a Senate
subcommittee hearing when a
farm worker from Delano,
Calif., accused the
Department of Defense of
siding with the growers in the
national grape boycott.
“We appear to be
witnessing an all out effort by
the military to bail out the
growers and break our
boycott,” Mrs. Dolores
Huerta, vice president of the
United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee
(UFWOC), AFL-CIO, told
Sen. Walter F. Mondale’s
Subcommittee on Migratory
Labor.
She said Defense
Department purchases of
table grapes “have been
detrimental to our effort.”
Defense Department
witnesses admitted that grape
purchases for troops in
Vietnam have increased 35%
during the past year.
But Dale R. Babione,
deputy executive director of
Procurement and Production,
Defense Supply Agency,
maintained that the military
is neutral in the issue.
Several senators expressed
puzzlement over what the
Defense Department means
by neutrality in light of the
great increase in grape
purchases during the past
year.
The increase, according to
Babione, is due to requests
from troops in Vietnam for
grapes and to improved
capabilities to ship grapes
better than other fruits, such
as strawberries.
Babione said if the troops
did not want grapes, they
would not eat them and the
commissaries therefore would
not order them.
It was pointed out that the
Defense Department makes
its largest purchases of grapes
from Giumara Brothers
Vineyard Corp., Bakersville,
Calif., one of the most
outspoken growers fighting
the boycott.
Babione said the Defense
Department would continue
to buy grapes unless workers’
strikes or other situations
make it difficult for the
department to obtain them.
Sen. Harold Hughes of
Iowa expressed skepticism at
the department’s stand of
neutrality. Mondale said the
department may well be
neutral, but added that
practically speaking, present
policies of purchasing grapes
is helping the growers.
Mondale said it is asking
too much of the workers to
believe that the Defense
Department is neutral when
its grape purchases have
increased so greatly during
the past year. He described
the workers as the most
depressed of all workers in
the nation who are finding
themselves overwhelmed by
opposition.
Mondale said the only
non-violent action left to the
workers is the national
boycott.
Mondale, Hughes, and Sen.
Alan Cranston of California
shot a steady barrage of
questions at the Defense
Department witness, who
obviously reacted as if he
were in enemy territory.
Most of the senators
displayed their leanings
toward the workers, except
Sen. George Murphy of
California who kept telling
Mrs. Huerta he has found
much discrepancy in
complaints voiced by workers
during the past few years.
Angered, Mrs. Huerta said,
“Senator, if you want to
close your eyes...”
Murphy interrupted her,
warning, “Don’t scold me.
I’m a United States Senator.”
Several persons in the
packed committee hearing
room then jeered Murphy for
his remark. Murphy finally
excused himself, saying he
had to be on the Senate floor.
Mrs. Huerta said “the
boycott is our major
non-violent weapon and our
last line of defense against the
growers who use foreign labor
to break our strikes.”
She pointed out that some
opponents of the workers
have been committing
violence during the
controversy and successfully
getting the workers blamed
for it.
Mrs. Huerta said Cesar
Chavez, UFWOC leader, “is
doing all he can do to keep
the movement non-violent.”
In attacking the
Department of Defense
WASHINGTON (NC) -
The chairman of the group
reviewing the activities of the
Catholic Inter-American
Cooperation Program
(CICOP) - an annual forum
on inter-American
problems-has said that the
program should be continued.
The program “makes a
valuable contribution to
inter-American relations,”
said Bishop Joseph Green of
Reno, chairman of the U.S.
Bishops’ Subcommittee on
Inter-American Cooperation,
which reviewed CICOP.
Archbishop Coleman F.
Carroll of Miami, chairman of
the Bishops’ Committee for
Latin America, has concurred
with the recommendation of
the CICOP subcommittee.
“Our committee is in favor
of the CICOP conference,
particularly, letting it pursue
its projected 10-year life
span, which has three years to
go,” said Bishop Green.
“We are in accord with
(DOD) for purchasing table
grapes, Mrs. Huerta presented
three figures:
-“The DOD is doubling its
purchases of table grapes this
year.”
Father Louis Colonnese’s
recommendation that CICOP
become a ‘Christian
Hemispheric Ombudsman’ on
specific issues as well as
engaging the general
American public in
thoughtful education and
reflection on Latin American
issues.”
Father Colonnese, director
of the Latin America Division
of the United States Catholic
Conference (USCC), is also
director of CICOP.
In May, Bishop Joseph L.
Bernardin, general secretary
of the USCC, said:
‘‘The Bishops’
Subcommittee for Latin
America has considered it
opportune to review the
CICOP activities to determine
whether, in its present form,
it is still serving it original
purpose.”
This review was under
consideration, he added,
“even before the last CICOP
meeting,” in January of this
year.
--“DOD table grape
shipments to South Vietnam
this year have increased by
400%.” This is 50% higher
than the figure admitted by
Babione.
- “Commercial shipments
Following Bishop Green’s
statement that CICOP should
be continued, Father
Colonnese said:
“I am especially pleased at
the vote of confidence this
program has received from
the U.S. bishops whom I
requested to study and
evaluate CICOP. The CICOP
planning committee will meet
in Washington, D.C., from
July 20 to 23 to determine
the theme and content of the
1970 CICOP conference. The
majority of the CICOP
planning committee members
are Latin Americans and the
U.S. membership is
com prised of Latin
Americanists with a broad
academic and experiential
knowledge of the issues to be
treated at the conference.”
The CICOP planning
committee meeting, originally
scheduled to be held in May,
was postponed pending the
outcome of the bishops’
evaluation of CICOP’s over-all
effectiveness.
of fresh table grapes to South
Vietnam in 1968 have risen
nine times since 1966,
according to U.S. Department
of Commerce statistics.”
Mrs. Huerta emphasized
that in 1968 “South Vietnam
became the world’s fifth
largest importer of this
luxury commodity, by
buying 2,855,016 pounds of
U.S. table grapes.
“These are the facts as to
how the Grapes of Wrath are
being converted into the
Grapes of War by the world’s
richest government in order
to stop farm workers from
waging a successful boycott
and organizing against grape
growers,” she declared.
Mrs. Huerta then asked the
senators:
“How can any American
believe that the U.S.
government is sincere in its
efforts to eradicate poverty
when the military uses its
immense purchasing power to
subvert the farm workers’
non-violent struggle for a
decent, living wage and a
better future?
“The DOD,’’ she
continued, “is obviously
acting as a buyer of last resort
for scab grapes and is, in
effect, providing another
form of federal subsidy for
anti-union growers who
would destroy the efforts of
the poor to build a union.”
Babione said that while
Defense’s purchase of table
grapes “are substantial, both
in dollar amount and
quantity, in each of the years
portrayed, the Defense
Supply Agency’s purchases
were less than 1% of the
United States annual
production of table grapes.”
Basic policy of the
Defense Department “with
regard to awarding defense
contracts to contractors
involved in labor disputes,”
Babione said, “is to refrain
from taking a position on the
merits of any labor dispute.”
“This policy,” he added,
“is based on the premise that
it is essential to Defense
procurement needs to
maintain a sound working
relationship with both labor
and management.”
Mondale, whose
subcommittee will continue
hearings on the plight, of
migrant workers, said “it is
crucial that we understand
the implications of this
struggle in its entirety, and
effects of Defense
Department grape purchases
on the grape boycott.”
Purpose of the July 15
hearings, which heard both
farmworkers and Defense
officials, “is to learn about
the farmworkers’ efforts to
organize to gain their share of
power, and to investigate the
extent to which public and
private institutions and
practices may be suppressing
farmworker attempts to
organize,” the Minnesota
senator said.
COMMITTEE REPORT^
‘Continue CICOP’
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