Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8—The Southern Cross, September 6,1984
ELECTION FOCUS
Republicans And The Bishops: World's Regional Conflicts
immigration laws. We will preserve the principle of family
reunification.”
MASS MEDIA
-- U.S. Catholic Conference:
“Communication media should be responsive to the
public interest. We reject the application of “marketplace’
economic thinking to the telecommunications industry,
for this has the effect of widening the gap between the
information-rich and the information-poor in society.
Specifically, we oppose legislative initiatives in Congress
which would remove the accountability of broadcasters
and the owners of cable systems to the communities they
are licensed or franchised to serve.”
“We support the concept of universal telephone service
at a cost which all Americans can afford. While we oppose
government control of the content of the mass media, we
support reasonable common-carrier regulations to restrict
the use of these vehicles in making available to the young,
in particular, indecent or pornographic materials.. ..
-- Republican Platform:
“Republicans applaud the information explosion. We
urge our schools to educate for the ever-changing demands
of society and to resist using these innovations as
substitutes for reasoning, logic and mastery of basic
kills.”
“The Republican Party has deep concern about
ratuitous sex and violence in the entertainment media,
oth of which contribute to the problem of crime against
hildren and women.”
“We and the vast majority of Americans are repulsed by
ornography. We will vigorously enforce constitutional
iws to control obscene materials which degrade everyone,
articularly women, and depict the exploitation of
hildren.”
REGIONAL CONFLICTS IN THE WORLD
1) Central America
- U.S. Catholic Conference:
“ . . . The United States should play a creative
diplomatic role in supporting dialogue leading to cessation
of hostilities, a negotiated end to the conflicts, and an
internationally guaranteed process of political and social
reform and economic reconstruction. Under no
reasonably foreseeable circumstances can direct
intervention of military personnel in the region on the
part of the United States or any other outside power be
justified.
“We have consistently supported substantial economic
assistance for the countries of Central America. While
recognizing that military assistance is a dimension of the
United States presence there, we continue to insist that
the principal U.S. contribution to peace .. . Should be
through our diplomatic role. Military assistance to El
Salvador should be conditioned upon compliance with
established human rights criteria.”
“ .. . We oppose covert aid to forces seeking to
overthrow the present government of Nicaragua by
violence. We favor resumption of significant bilateral
economic assistance to Nicaragua, conditioned on
compliance with established human rights criteria. We
urge new efforts at political engagement...”
-- Republican Platform:
“The security and freedom of Central America are
indispensable to our own. The entire region, however, is
gravely threatened by communist expansion, inspired and
supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.”
“Today, democracy is under assault throughout the
hemisphere. Marxist Nicaragua threatens not only Costa
Rica and Honduras but also El Salvador and Guatemala.
The Sandinistas have systematically persecuted free
institutions, including synagogue and church, schools, the
private sector, the free press, minorities, and families and
tribes throughout Nicaragua. We support continued
assistance to the democratic freedom fighters in
Nicaragua.”
“The heroic effort to build democracy in El Salvador
has been brutally attacked by communist guerrillas
supported by Cuba and the Sandinistas.
“ ... President Reagan has helped the people of El
Salvador defend themselves. Our opponents object to that
assistance, citing concern for human rights. We share that
concern and ... have taken steps to help curb abuses. We
have firmly and actively encouraged human rights
reform and results have been achieved. In judicial reform,
the murderers of the American nuns in 1980 have been
convicted and sentenced ...”
“In the Middle East, the quest for peace continues and
the relevant parties bear distinct yet interdependent
responsibilities:
“First, the international community, especially its
principal diplomatic actors, inevitably influences the 0
future of the Middle East. Second, the United Nations is a
vital element in any Middle East negotiations, and its
diplomatic and peacekeeping role will undoubtedly be
crucial .. . Third, the regional parties, whose conflicting
claims to justice are the essence of the political and moral
problem there, are the key to peace. Finally, the religious
communities with roots in the Middle East must reflect
the best of our traditions in supporting the movement for
peace with justice for all...”
“Republicans reaffirm that the United States should
not recognize the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)
so long as that organization continues to promote
terrorism, rejects Israel’s right to exist....”
“We pledge to help maintain Israel’s qualitative military
edge over its adversaries.”
“We believe that Jerusalem should remain an undivided
city with free and unimpeded access to all holy places by
people of all faiths.”
(3) Southern Africa
-- U.S. Catholic Conference: ^
“South Africa has long been of grave moral concern to
the world because of its internal racial policies and its
occupation of Namibia-Southwest Africa... It has
become a threat to the entire area of southern Africa . . .
“U.S. foreign policy and its influence on corporate
activity in South Africa should be directed toward needed
change in South Africa and in its relations with
neighboring states. ”
- Republican Platform: #
“We are committed to democracy in Africa and to the
economic development that will help it flourish.”
“The Reagan-Bush administration will continue its
vigorous efforts to achieve Namibian indpendence and the
expulsion of Cubans from occupied Angola.
“We reaffirm our commitment to the rights of all South
Africans. Apartheid is repugnant. In South Africa, as
elsewhere on the continent, we support well-conceived
efforts to foster peace, prosperity and stability.”
(2) Middle East
-- U.S. Catholic Conference:
- Republican Platform:
9
Murder Conviction Leads From Cell To Monastery
BY SIGMUND J. MIKOLAJCZYK
CLEVELAND (NC) - The road to God began for
’apuchin Brother James Townsend at the Rockview
enitentiary in Pennsylvania, where he was serving a life
entence for the murder of his pregnant wife.
At Rockview he plotted escape, planned to murder an
nmate and kill himself and pretended to be pious to
mpress the prison board before being struck by a
onversion which led him from prison to the conversion
of St. Paul Shrine in Cleveland.
Brother Townsend, 57, who told his story to the
Catholic Universe Bulletin, the newspaper of the Diocese
of Cleveland, said he spent a wild childhood in detention
homes and reform schools.
At the age of 18 he got a job in Pittsburgh. “Things
were going pretty fair, but I got mixed up with gangs and
loose women and started drinking,” he said.
Then he met Alice. “I knew about sex,” Brother
Townsend said, “But being with that girl was different.
Until then, I had never experienced love.”
The couple married and he took a job doing farm work
but he hated it, “so I started looking for some action.”
One day, playing cards in a nearby town, he realized he
had been set up. His money gone, and his anger
uncontrollable, thanks to alcohol, he walked home to get
his rifle.
His wife, five months pregnant, pleaded with him to
put the gun down and stay home. He said he went into a
rage and when she tried to stop him, he shot her.
He tried to cover up the crime, blame it on an intruder,
but by the time the police arrived, Brother Townsend
said, “I got stone cold sober. I just gave up and said, yeah,
I did it.” His wife was “a good girl, full of laughter and
joy. She loved life.” She was 18 at her death, married only
II months.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced
to life in prison, with no chance for parole.
In prison he thought of escaping while on a work detail,
but that fizzled.
At one point, he decided to commit suicide, “and I was
going to take another guy with me - he was a
homosexual, and I figured that my killing him would be
doing the world a favor.”
“I just didn’t care at that point... .1 figured I’d punish
everybody else by killing myself. But finally I decided I
wouldn’t be hurting anyone but myself,” Brother
Townsend said.
Then, to make the prison board believe he was a
changed man, he feigned conversion - reading the Bible,
leading prayer meetings and helping to start a chapter of
the Third Order of St. Francis.
“One day I guess I just woke up. I realized that this
wasn’t a joke. This God was for real. I didn’t know how to
handle it. It took me a little time but I finally opened my
eyes and began to believe all the things I was reading,”
Brother Townsend said.
“I guess I did escape that place but not the way I
planned. You see, the Lord dropped what I call a log -
Love of God - on me. I like to cadi God ‘Slick’ - he’s the
greatest con man I ever met. He certainly conned me into
doing things I didn’t want to do,” he said.
He began to see his prison life in a different light. “I
worked in the chapel and after a while, I began to feel ^
that maybe my job was right where I was. Maybe it didn’t
matter whether I got out or not. Having the love of the
Lord was freedom enough. I began to realize that with the
Lord, you bloom where you’re planted.”
In 1966 the parole board changed his sentence to
19-and-a-half years to life, and he was allowed out on
parole in 1967.
“Even before I got out of the pen, I knew I wanted to
be a brother,” he said. He went to St. Fidelis Seminary,
Butler, Pa., and to the order’s novitiate house in *
Annapolis, Md. For the last six years Brother Townsend *
has been at the conversion of St. Paul Shrine where he is
in charge of maintenance.
Brother Townsend now preaches to others about his
life, and he visits Rockview Penitentiary every October to
conduct a retreat for inmates.
He tells them that “there can’t be a pit so deep that the
Lord can’t reach.”
“Today I’m one of the happiest guys you’ll ever see,” g
Brother Townsend said. “Sometimes I’ll get up at three in 9
the morning and just pray, and thank the Lord for all he’s
done for me, because the Lord doesn’t count failures. I’m
happy knowing my sins are forgiven.”