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PAGE 7—The Southern Cross, January 10,1974
East African Bishops Deplore Racism in Africa
NAIROBI, Kenya (NC) - The
Catholic bishops of East Africa have
said they find it “offensive to human
dignity that racism and colonialism are
still permitted to exist in our continent,
and we reject any perverted attempts to
appeal to Christianity and civilization to
justify their continued existence.”
In a “Message on Reconciliation
Between Man and Man,” issued at the
end of the» meeting here of the
Association of the Episcopal
Conferences in Eastern Africa
(AMECEA), the bishops deplored “the
inhuman conditions imposed on
innumerable people by racism, diehard
colonialism and at times even by
tribalism.”
In their own countries, the bishops of
Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and
Zambia said, “liberty and even life itself
is denied to some citizens on
exaggerated grounds of national
security. There are social injustices
allowing the privileged few to enrich
themselves at the expense of the many.
This indicates that some exploitation of
man by man still exists even in our
independent countries.
“There are examples of personal
freedom being unduly and harshly
restricted. There is at times an
atmosphere of fear in which citizens are
afraid to raise their voices in opposition
to policies and practices in their own
country and to object to other
violations of their own natural rights.”
The bishops requested “all in
authority to correct these and all other
examples of injustice wherever they
occur and to promote conditions that
reconcile all citizens to one another and
to those in authority.”
The bishops’ message supported the
September 1973 statement of the
Pontifical Commission for Justice and
Peace, which “requested that the Holy
See make every effort at the proper
level to bring about a reconciliation
between the Portuguese government and
the liberation movements in (Portugal’s
African) territories on the basis of
recognition of their independence.”
The bishops also declared their
solidarity with those struggling for the
right to self-determination in all other
parts of Africa.
They suggested that discussion of a
federation of Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda “be given new impetus and that
an invitation to Malawi and Zambia to
join such a fraternal union should
always remain open.”
In his keynote address at the opening
of the eight-day (Dec. 14-21) AMECEA
meeting, Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa
of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, president of
AMECEA, said that, “contrary to the
expectations of certain pessimists, the
Church in Africa is developing very
rapidly and, in Eastern Africa in
particular, is experiencing an
unprecedented growth.”
The Church, however, Cardinal
Rugambwa said, should not become
complacent even though there are over
nine million Catholics and millions of
other Christians in the AMECEA
countries. He urged Catholics in those
countries to bring thymessage of Christ
to the more than 50 percent of the
population who have not yet effectively
heard it.
One of the signs of the growing
maturity of the Christian community in
Eastern Africa was that most of the
discussion leaders at the meeting here
were African-born.
Guidelines for Chruch planning in
Eastern Africa in the 1980s issued at the
end of the meeting emphasized the need
to organize Church life around “those
basic manageable social groupings whose
members can experience real
interpersonal relationships and feel a
sense of communal belonging, both in
living and working. ”
The guidelines did not, however,
explain in detail how to convert the
existing large parishes into smaller units.
The guidelines also recommended
“that the Christian community at all
levels be involved in the selection,
training and maintenance of Church
personnel.”
Emphasizing giving more
responsibility to the laity, the guidelines
noted that few ministries and services in
the Church require priestly ordination.
The guidelines recommended the
development of team ministry, in which
a team of priests, Religious and laity,
including social workers and other
’"specialists, committed “to the total
development of man” in a given area,
would cooperate with efforts being
made by other religions and with
governments “in their efforts to bring
about development and progress.”
Part of the team approach would
include “experts and convinced married
Christians” working together with
priests and Religious to assist “in the
formation of Christian families.”
They would also “try to solve
problems which can weaken family ties,
by offering appropriate counseling
service.”
Bishop James Odongo of Tororo,
Uganda, was elected chairman of
AMECEA for a three-year term. He
succeeds Iowa-born Bishop Vincent
McCauley, former bishop of Fort Portal,
Uganda, who has been chairman since
1964.
Spanish Government Takes Turn to the Right
MADRID, Spain (NC) -- In a stunning
development, Premier Carlos Arias
Navarro dropped all members of the
Catholic lay Opus Dei organization in
forming his new cabinet.
Foreign Minister Laureano Lopez
Rodo was replaced by career diplomat
Pedro Cortina, Spanish Ambassador to
France. Lopez Rodo was the last
member of the Opus Dei in the
assassinated Premier Luis Carrero
Blanco’s Cabinet.
Opus Dei is “an association of the
faithful, whose members dedicated
themselves entirely to the apostolate
and to the practice of an intense
spiritual life without abandoning their
own social environment or the exercise
of their profession or secular
occupation.” The organization runs
several schools and universities in Spain,
North and South America.
The last reshuffle of the Spanish
Cabinet marks a strong shift to the right
in the government, although two
On Sunday, December 23, Bishop
Raymond Lessard paid his first official
visit to Sacred Heart Parish, Savannah.
The reason for his visit was to confer
the Order of Reader on Mr. Way land
Brown and to designate two
extraordinary ministers of Holy
Communion - Sister Teresa and Sister
Rosalie. For more than a year, Mr.
Brown provided THE SOUTHERN
CROSS with the column “Shepherds in
the Wings.”
conservatives, Torcuato Fernandez
Miranda, acting Premier after Carrero
Blanco’s assassination and Gonzalo
Fernandez de la Mora were also dropped
from the Cabinet. The main thrust of
the new government seems to be toward
law and order. Premier Arias himself has
law enforcement background.
The Opus Dei demise from the
government was heightened by the rise
of old Falange members to power. The
Falange is a fascist party which
supported Franco during the 1936-39
Civil War and later formed the core of
the National Movement, the only legal
political organization in the country.
The Falange members are to the right of
the Europe-oriented Opus Dei
technocrats and have consistently
criticized their influence and
“liberalism” within the government.
Arias also named Jose Garcia
Hernandez to the ministry of
government, his own former post, and
made him first deputy premier. The
post is important because it controls the
police and internal security matters.
conferred on Wayland Brown. The rite
of the order is a short but impressive
one - the Bishop prayed over the
candidate and then presented him with
the Book of Scriptures.
After the liturgy, the Bishop, the
sisters, and Mr. Brown were invited to
brunch in the rectory prepared by Mrs.
Rochell McGinn and her two daughters.
Garcia Hernandez is an outspoken foe
of the Opus Dei.
The new developments cast some
doubts on the remaining strength of the
decade-old drive to integrate Spain to
the democracies of Western Europe,
mainly through membership in the
European Common Market. Opus Dei
members had been instrumental in this
drive, which encountered great
opposition from some European
democracies with great distaste for the
Franco dictatorship.
The demise of the Opus Dei society
had been started by Carrero Blanco.
Most observers agree that the Matesa
financial scandal of 1960 marked the
start of the decline of the Opus Dei in
government circles.
Matesa was a textile company owned
by industrialist Juan Vila Reyes. He was
convicted of defrauding the government
of more than $70 million. The Italian
socialist paper Avanti later charged that
Vila Reyes had channeled $40 million
to Opus Dei groups in Spain as well as
abroad. The organization denied the
charges but doubts remained.
The Spanish Catholic Church has
grown alienated from Opus Dei because
of its political and economic policies.
The Church’s progressive stands in many
issues have clashed with the government
and also with Opus Dei. In the weeks
prior to the assassination of Carrero
Blanco, the Church was engaged in a
conflict over arbitrary imprisonment of
lay leaders and the continuing existence
of a special priests prison in Zamora.
The conflict was marked by hunger
strikes and nationwide protests by
priests and lay catholics.
The new cabinet does not include any
Christian Democrats, who participated
in cabinet posts on and off, but who
have become more vocal in their
demands for political freedoms and
some sort of transition towards a
democratic system. This is opposed by
the supporters of “continuismo,” or the
continuation of the present system even
without Franco. This includes the rise
of the monarchy with Prince Juan
Carlos, heir apparent of Franco as head
of state.
In spite of the shifts in the Cabinet,
Premier Arias pledged his government to
liberalization during swearing in
ceremonies, saying that order would be
maintained to allow Spaniards to
“develop their rights and liberties.”
The big question now is how will the
fall of Opus Dei affect the movement
towards Western Europe and whether
the increasing demands for political and
individual liberties will bring a repressive
backlash from a government deeply
aware that the divisions within Spanish
society are as deep as they were during
the Civil War.
An increasingly critical Catholic
Church and widespread repression may
make the Spanish-European common
Market partnership more distasteful
than ever to some democracies of
Western Europe.
ORDAINED AS READER. Bishop Lessard, flanked by Father Michael
Smith (left in photo) and Father James Costigan, ordaining Mr. Wayland
Brown as Reader.
WAYLAND BROWN
Ordained Reader
THE 1974 PARISH COUNCIL has been installed at
St. Frances Cabrini parish, Savannah. They are (seated,
left to right) Mrs. Phylis Tabakian, Mrs. Rochelle
Buttimer, Mrs. Jean Sheehan (Pres.), Mrs. Suzie
Walker, Mrs. Carolyn Hendrickson. (Standing) Messers.
Michael Kilpatrick, Tony K. Gannam, Edward
Buttimer, Fr. Eamonn O’Riordan (Pastor) and Mr.
Robert Merchen.
Catholic Press Stable in ’73
NEW YORK (NC) - The total
circulation of Catholic periodicals
remained stable in 1973, as did the
combined circulation of Catholic
newspapers, according to the 1974
Catholic Press Directory published here.
Total circulation for all Catholic
newspapers and magazines in the
United States and Canada dropped
slightly -- from 22,805,018 in 1972 to
22,767,256 in 1973. Catholic
newspapers showed a decrease in
circulation from 5,352,469 to
5,057,957, according to the directory
which is published by the Catholic Press
Association (CPA).
A dramatic decline in circulation for
national Catholic newspapers was
recorded but is not as serious as it may
seem.
The National Catholic Register and
Our Sunday Visitor, two national papers
which publish editions that serve as
diocesan papers in several areas, lost
circulation when three dioceses left the
chains and began publishing their own
papers. The Register lost two papers,
reducing the number of its diocesan
editions to nine; OSV lost one paper,
reducing its number of diocese editions
to six. So while the national newspapers
lost some circulation, in reality, the
circulation figures only shifted to
another heading.
The number of diocesan newspapers
published locally increased from 112 to
120. Their circulation, went from
4,133,064 in 1972 to 4,153,185 in
1973.
Most diocesan newspapers showed
only slight increases or decreases in
circulation.
Canadian Catholic periodicals
reflected similar circulation statistics
with only slight gains or losses.
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The Bishop was welcomed by Mr.
Andrew Ryan, Parish Council President.
The choir sang hymns and the regular
parts of the mass under the direction of
Dr. Harry Persse.
Father James Costigan and Father
Michael Smith assisted the Bishop.
Bishop Lessard in his sermon
explained ministries in the Church and
the need for different specific ones.
Father Costigan then called the
candidates. The Sisters were
commissioned first as extraordinary
ministers of Holy Communion. This was
followed by the Order of Reader
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