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PAGE 3—June 5,1975
1975 Catholic Elementary School Graduates
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NATIVITY GRADUATES -- Graduation class of Nativity of Our Lord School, Thunderbolt, received
diplomas on May 27th.
ST. JAMES’ GRADUATES — Pictured top and James School. The graduates received diplomas on May
bottom are eighth grade graduates of Savannah’s St. 27th.
BLESSED SACRAMENT GRADUATES - Graduating eighth graders of Savannah’s Blessed
Sacrament school received diplomas on May 27th.
May 27. Pictured with the graduates are Father Gerard
A. Murphy, Pastor, and Sister Mary Gerald Wells, CSJ,
Principal.
VALDOSTA GRADUATION - Nineteen eighth
grade students of St. John the Evangelist School,
Valdosta, were awarded diplomas during the Mass on
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BY METHODIST AGENCY
Constitutional Abortion Restrictions Opposed
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (NC) - Any
attempt to restrict abortion by
constitutional amendment “does serious
injury to our cherished freedom of
religious belief and conscience,”
according to the Women’s Division of
the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.
In a resolution adopted during the
division’s spring meeting here, abortion
was characterized as primarily a
“religious and philosophical” issue, not
a matter of legislation.
The resolution was apparently aimed
at the efforts of Catholics and others to
obtain an amepdment that would ban
abortion.
The Women’s Division is a national
agency of organized women’s work
within the United Methodist Church.
The agency first called for the removal
of abortion from the criminal code in
1969, and this stance was adopted in
1970 by the United Methodists’general
conference, the church’s highest
law-making assembly.
“The struggle raging over abortion,”
the Women’s Division said, “centers
largely on religious and philosophical
differences rather than on the types of
social factors which normally fall within
the purview of government. We
therefore affirm once more our belief
that where there is no religious or moral
consensus in our society the attempt to
embody one particular moral viewpoint
in the United States Constitution does
serious injury to our cherised freedom
of religious belief and conscience.”
The agency said it had hoped that
after the Supreme Court ruling on
abortion in 1973 (the ruling overturned
most state restrictions on abortion),
people would “turn their attention to
seeking to remove conditions in our
society which might create a need for
abortion.”
Instead, it said, “vast amounts of
energy, money and time are going to the
attempt to use national legislation and
even the Constitution to force
continuation of pregnancies, no matter
what the human or social cost.”
According to the Women’s Division,
“pressure among religious groups” over
abortion legislation could also damage
“the spirit of our ecumenical
relationships.”
Human Rights in Chile Hemispheric Concern
BY JAIME FONSECA
WASHINGTON (NC) - A close look
at human rights in Chile by an
inter-American body here brought out
evidence of torture and disappearance
and political prisoners.
The issue of human rights, taken up
at the recent meeting of the
Organization of American States (OAS),
has been the center of concern for
Church leaders in that South American
nation. The Chilean bishops have
repeatedly asked the military junta in
Santiago to follow due process in
repressing supporters of the Marxist
regime it toppled 20 months ago. There
are signs of growing Church-state
tension on this issue.
A report of the OAS’ commission on
human rights debated at the meeting
here covered conditions up to
mid-1974. It showed:
- No charges had been made against
political prisoners at Dawson Island,
Ritoque and other camps after almost
11 months of confinement and forced
labor.
- In most arrests, families were not
informed of the cause or place of
detention.
- Persons arrested by the army’s
secret agents spent weeks and months in
jail without any hearing, although
existing law calls for one within 48
hours of detention.
- Lawyers complained that they were
not allowed to see their clients in
prison, that many of the prisoners were
victims of arbitrary arrest and .jailed
without due process, and that defense
lawyers were not given sufficient notice
to prepare for their cases.
- The junta rejected all 1,500 appeals
presented since it began making arrests.
- There wre repeated cases of
psychological and physical abuse of
prisoners, including torture, and further
reprisals against torture victims who
made their protests public. Many
women were among those tortured.
Executions by firing squads “without
trial or after trials that, according to
claims, violated the right of due
process.”
The report listed specific cases which
are submitted to the military junta for
clarification, including those of 36
missing persons, a woman raped by
jailers, four persons under arbitrary
detention and two prisoners in need of
hospital attention.
The junta responded by releasing one
youth who was reported as missing; it
gave the whereabouts of another
prisoner, but gave no clue about the
remaining 34 cases. It said hospital care
was provided for sick prisoners,
including the rape cases, and explained
arbitrary detention as a fact of life
under conditions of seige.
The OAS commission complained
that the Chilean junta had prevented its
members from inspecting five detention
centers where prisoners were tortured.
These included the Santiago
Investigations Bureau, “The House of
Terror” on Londres Street, Santiago,
and the navy ship Esmeralda. It also said
the government refused to grant
safe-conducts so its members could
make unhindered visits to other jails and
camps.
Chilean representatives in Washington
denounced the commission report as
ignoring violations of human rights
under the previous Marxist regime, and
of making “shallow” inquiries while in
the country.
The report, however, was widely
debated behind closed doors during the
May meeting here. A final conclusion
was held up until the United Nations
commission on human rights completes
another report later this year. OAS
members, however, passed a resolution
“calling on our governments, including
Chile, to pay the greatest attention to
the question of human rights.”
Chile’s foreign minister, Adm.
Patricio Carvajal, said his junta “has
never evaded the question of human
rights . . . but wants this meeting to
know that it gives first priority to the
security of the state and of the people,
especially when widespread terrorism
plagues many countries in the world.”
Last January the Chilean bishops
submitted to the junta a list of 400
persons reported as missing since their
detention by secret police. Other
sources place the figure at 1,QD0. A
total of 95,000 persons were detained
by the military for political reasons for
periods ranging from a few hours to
several months.
During its April meeting the Chilean
Bishops’ Conference decided to make
private representations to government
officials regarding human rights, rather
than issuing a public condemnation.
Chile is in the midst of efforts at the
international level to refinance its
foreign debt and prop up its dwindling
economy; but creditor nations and
institutions have tied their aid to the
observance of human rights in that
country. Government officials concede
in private that a public statement by the
bishops would have an adverse effect on
current negqtiations.
The bishops offered evidence that
arbitrary imprisonment, torture and
other abuses continued after the OAS
report was completed. The abuses
affected many Catholic lay leaders on
campuses and in labor groups, and a few
Church personnel.
Other sources, including international
organizations in Europe and in the
United States, have offered documented
cases as late as May. These include the
cases of a well known painter, a
mechanic and his two sons, two
professors and three university students.
The junta’s head, Gen. Augusto
Pinochet, promised to punish “abuses of
power that the government has never
approved” and said the 48-hour period
for a hearing will be enforced.
Documents circulated privately in
April show the Church is still pressing
for relaxation of tight security laws, for
more information for the people on
government matters and for the
“reestablishment of individual rights
and an end to ideological persecution.”