Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6
GEORGIA BULLETIN, JANUARY 11, 1963
AGAINST SOVIET
Peasants’ 2,100-Mile Trek
Seen As Dramatic Protest
WORCESTER, Mass. (NC) —
The action of 32 Siberian Chris
tians who pushed their way into
the U.S. embassy in Moscow was
seen by an expert here as a dra
matic protest against the Soviet
Union’s current campaign
against religion.
Father Georges Bissonnette,
A.A., served from 1953 to 1955
as a Catholic chaplain for for
eigners in Moscow and is now
head of the foreign affairs
school at Assumption College,
here, noted in an interview
that the Soviet government
’’started a campaign of 'ad
ministrative measures’ against
religious activity back around
September.” He observed that
the recent incident at the U. S.
embassy could be a protest
aimed at informing the outside
world about this campaign.
THE SIBERIAN Christians
who made a 2,100 mile trek
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from Chernogorsk to Moscow
failed in their attempt to leave
the Soviet Union. Soviet spokes
men said they have been sent
back to their homes.
One of the group said while
at the embassy: "We were told
that for our religious beliefs
we would be put in prison and
that our children would be ta
ken away from us after January
1.”
Father Bissonnette said that
the Soviets, in a July, 1958
revision of their education sys
tem, set up boarding schools to
take children "out of the un
healthy atmosphere of a home
of believing parents."
THE FORMER Moscow chap
lain said that the protest could
"bring a halt to the current
'administrative measures’ ** if
other protests come along. "But
if it’s alone,” he said, "it won’t
have much effect."
The Soviets might use the in
cident, he noted, as a "show
case example that the country is
tolerant.”
Father Bissonnette explained
that the current campaign of
administrative m e asures
against religion is not unique.
Such campaigns come up from
time to time. They are unan
nounced except by the appear
ance of references to "intensi
fying the campaign against re
ligion.” Then news starts com
ing out about the closing of
seminaries, churches and syna
gogues.
HE MENTIONED a letter
which Soviet Premier Nikita
Khruschchev published in the
Soviet organ Pravda back in
1954, protesting against a simi
lar campaign which Comsomol,
the Soviet youth organization,
was conducting. Father Bis
sonnette said that Comsomol
wag probably chosen at that
time as a "sacrifice 1 lamb”
to quiet protests.
One of Khrushchev's objec
tions in his 1954 letter was that
some communist party mem
bers were thrown out of the
party because of trumped-up
charges of religious activity.
Father Bissonnette said that
in the current campaign, Soviet
authorities have even started
clamping down on Russian Or
thodox activities—usually the
last denomination affected—by
closing down some of their
seminaries. He said that the
authorities have had trouble
with the Jehovah’s Witnesses
who refuse to serve in the arm
ed forces.
PROTESTS like the one at the
U. S. embassy, Father Bisson
nette noted, are "one way that
Russians try to reach the out
side world.” These protests
against religious persecution
show up in other ways, too, he
said, adding that the people
sometimes protest through
work slowdowns. "The Soviets
get the message,” the priest
explained, "Khrushchev once
called the protests, 'vestiges of
obscurantistic thinking’ and
contrasted them with scienti
fic atheistic materialism.”
Father Bissonnette said he
had no idea how widespread the
practice of taking children from
religiously inclined families
and putting them in state-run
boarding schools has become.
The figures in official reports
are generally qualified by foot
notes as being "incomplete.”
The school are all over the
country, he said, usually close
to the big cities.
THE SIBERIAN peasants in
the Moscow protest identified
themselves as "Evangelical
Christians,” and might be close
in their beliefs to Baptists. Fa
ther Bissonnette said, however,
that the term, "Evangelical
Christians,” has been used
"to cover all forms of Pro
testants.”
"I’ve seen it used,” he said,
"when I'm quite sure they (the
speakers) meant Baptists, Men-
nonites or Jehovah’s Wit
nesses.”
He said he had no idea how
many belong to groups like this.
"The Baptists can’t give any
statistics, either,” he said.
"Many of these groups do not
have a pastor. They are like
prayer groups.”
IN 1963
SEMINARIANS at Atonement Seminary in Washington, D. C., display posters which they have pre
pared for observance of the Chair of Unity Octabe — January 18 to 25. The Unity Octave, during
which Catholics aroun d the world join with several non-Catholic groups to pray for Christian
unity, was started in 1908 by Father Paul James Francis, founder of the Society of the Atonement.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
President-Elect Studies
Alliance For Progress
WASHINGTON (NC) —The
Dominican Republic’s first
freely elected leader in 38 years
arrived in the nation’s capital
to study first-hand how the U.S.
Alliance for Progress program
works.
During his stay, silver-
haired President-elect Juan
Bosch, 53, will have expert
teachers—President Kennedy,
Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
Alliance Administrator Teo-
doro Moscoso and other govern
ment officials.
"THE ALLIANCE is im
portant to us because, as an
automobile needs oil, de
mocracy needs to feed on im
proved living conditions—
houses, schools, hospitals. It
is not only money we need, but
moral support in our effort to
make democracy work,” Bosch
said.
Before coming here, Bosch
and his wife, Carmen, spe 14 c the
Christmas holidays in South
Bend, Ind., visiting their son,
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Bishop Reprieves
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 the statement declared.
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papers, the Catholic radio asso
ciation, Catholic student
organizations and the St.
Adlbert Society expressed their
disappointment over it.
Dr. Nuyens, president of the
St. Adalbert Society, sent tele
grams to Cardinal Alfrink and
Bishop van Dodewaard
expressing his astonishment
and anxiety at the Holy Office’s
action.
A BROADCAST by the Dutch
Catholic radio association said
that criticism of the Church’s
organization should be per
mitted. Therefore, it argued,
Father van Kilsdonk's case had
much greater importance than
simply the fate of a single
priest.
A delegation of the Am
sterdam Catholic student
society, Sanctus Thomas Aqui
nas, presented a statement to
Bishop van Dodewaard claiming
great merits for Father van
Kilsdonk as a student chaplain.
The statement said that the
priest’s removal at the insti
gation of the Holy Office would
have "a serious demoralizing
effect” on Catholic university
students of Amsterdam, The
delegation said it hoped that
Father van Kilsdonk could re
main at his post. "Otherwise
much harm would be caused,”
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The society of Catholic medi
cal students at the Amsterdam
university also Issued a public
statement praising Father van
Kilsdonk for his spiritual gui
dance.
THE EXECUTIVE board of
the Catholic students* organiz
ation of Eindhoven University
said it would be a great loss
to Dutch Catholic students If
the priest were removed "be
cause of his sincere remarks.-"
The national Catholic daily,
De Tljud-De Maasbode of Am
sterdam and Rotterdam, said
In an editorial that "a dis
ciplinary measure against
Father van Kilsdonk would make
a bad impression on Dutch Ca
tholics with their sensitive love
of freedom.”
"A sanction against this
speaker, who was not quite put
in the wrong by the events of
the ecumenical council, would
give offense to Dutch Catholics,
non-Catholics and the Catholic
students of Amsterdam, who
speak with great enthusiasm
about their chaplain, and not
only because of hfs outspoken
ness.”
ANOTHER Catholic daily, De
Volkskrant of Amsterdam,
wrote that any measure against
Father van Kilsdonk "would be
a sad demonstration of a lack
of openness and of a lack of
free speech inside the Church.”
It continued:
"More than ever it has been
shown publicily that power in
the Church has fallen into the
hands of a group that does not
know what is really going on
inside the Church. A majority
of the ecumenical council was
no longer prepared to be guided
by small, not very up-to-date
groups.”
Patricio, 16, a junior at St.
Joseph’s High School. The youth
is staying at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert H. Ackerman
and will remain in South Bend
to complete his studies at the
high school. The couple also
have a daughter, Barbara, 11,
back home.
BOSCH was 24 years in exile,
then returned to the Dominican
Republic and won the presiden-
SEES BROTHER
tial election by 300,000 votes a
month ago. He will take office
as President on February 27.
Bosch heads the Dominican
Revolutionary Party (PRD), de
scribed as moderately leftist.
During the election campaign he
was accused by Father Lautico
Garcia, S.J., of having Marxist-
Leninist leanings. In an election
eve radio-television debate with
the President-elect*
Chinese Priest
Visits Marietta
It’s a long way from the
mainland of China to Rome —
and still farther to Marietta,
Ga. Father Joseph P. Lee, S.
T.D., has made It and will soon,
be returning almost home —
Formosa — to continue his work
In the priesthood.
Father Lee called at the
Georgia Bulletin office the oth
er day. He had been visiting
his brother, a naturalized
American citizen, for Christ
mas, There are no other close
relatives. His parents are dead
and, apart from some distant
relatives on the Red Chinese
mainland, the brother is the
only part left of his family.
FATHER LEE has spent the
past several years studying
In Rome and New York and, in
the process, earned his degree
In Sacred Theology . He is a
citizen of Nationalist China and
will be returning to Formosa to
assist in parish work among his
own people.
He attended the minor semi
nary in his native province and
the major seminary at Hong
Kong, where he was ordained.
He attributes his vocation to
the encouragement of his fa
ther and the inspiration of Bis
hop Francis Ford, a Maryknoll
missioner who was martyred
Italy Film
Morality
Denounced
VATICAN CITY (Radio, NC)
—The Immorality of Italiam
movies has been denounced in
an editorial by L’Osservatore
Romano.
The editorial was written by
the Vatican City daily’s editor,
Raimondo Manzini, after he saw
a series of stills in a magazine
from an as yet unreleased Ita
lian film. He asked:
"How long will immoral con
formity continue to sully a large
part of motion picture produc
tions, particularly the Ita
lian?”
HE SAID that no "artistic
excuses can reasonably be in
voked to project on the screen
the photographic vision of the
final and extreme amorous mo
ments.”
FATHER LEE
by the Red Chinese.
Father Lee said he was look
ing forward to working among
his own people. He spoke nos
talgically about the mainland,
maintaining that the people un
der communist yoke would turn
on their oppressors if the op
portunity arose. He bamedthe
Red takeover on the mistakes
on the Western World, as well
the mistakes of the Nationalist
government In being too closely
identified with the West.
FATHER LEE said that the
Reds had undermined the Chi-
ang Kai-shek regime through
artful propaganda, which work
ed among the millions of po
verty-stricken citizens. The
Reds promised much, but have
produced nothing but misery for
the Chinese masses.
He said he left China just
before the Red take-over and,
after his ordination in Hong
Kong in 1957, remained there
as a high school teacher. He
also assisted the many refu
gees coming into the British
Crown Colony with relief and
resettlement work. Later he
was sent to Rome for further
studies.
Of the future? Father Lee Is
optomistic. He looks forward
to parochial work and, one day,
a return to China proper. He
Is confident that it Is possible
at some future date. He said the
Red Chinese no longer command
the support o f the populace.
Only oppresive measures keep
them in power. Liberation
through invasion from Formo
sa is a solution — and, he
said, the people would wel
come it.
Red Activity Lull
Seen Temporary
BY J. J. GILBERT
WASHINGTON (NC) — This
year, like others in the recent
past, is expected to be a trou
blesome one in foreign rela
tions.
As 1963 began, it was under
stood here that the lull in So-
view communist activity was
only temporary; that commu
nism has not turned in any de
gree from its aim of world
domination; that relations be
tween Soviet Russian commu
nism and the free jvorld have
not improved, and that new
communist provocations could
be expected this year.
NIKITA Khrushchev may
have made the first agitating
move as 1962 ended. It was,
and still is, expected that he
will try to inflame the Berlin
crisis anew. In the closing
days of last year he reiterated
his demand that Western troops
get out of Berlin. He said a
separate peace treaty with East
Germany is on the Soviet Rus
sian agenda and that it will
strip the Western Powers of
any right to remain in Berlin.
He said these things in a tough-
talking letter to Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer of West Ger
many. But he had Moscow
radio broadcast the text, so ob
viously he meant his words for
more than West German di
gestion.
It is thought here that the
communists may stir up trouble
in other places round the world
as well.
AND, WE have the Cuban
problem still with us. It is
not evident how the resolution
of the recent crisis will affect
the future action of the Soviet
Union. Nor is it known what
Castro’s position is now in
Cuba. It is thought that he was
humiliated by Moscow’s with
drawal of its missiles with
out consultation with him, but
there is nothing yet to indicate
that it has loosened his grip
on the situation, or that it
would have any beneficial ef
fect for the free world if he
were supplanted by another Red.
The unclear, but obviously
threatening, situation was wor
sened by what has been called
a declaration of Red China po
licy. On December 31, the
People's Dally in Peking print
ed a very long piece which it
called an editorial. Since the
text has become available here
it has been called a manifesto.
Observers have interpreted it
as a call for revolution and an
attempt to encourage and use
unrest and upheaval in all parts
of the world.
WHILE there has been talk of
Soviet Russia and Red China
differing with each other, es
pecially since the Cuban crisis,
they are both dominated by co. t -
munlst regimes, and are fcch
pursuing the communist goaof
world domination. Some jay
argue that Peking is tryir^ to
snatch the communist leaer-
ship from Moscow. Othermay
say that Red China is snply
trying to goad Red Russ! into
even more ruthless tactis. In
any case, there is nothii;inthe
Peking-Moscow debate o give
comfort to the free word. The
seeming antagonists ce only
disputing which is the^est way
to exterminate the olookers.
The Pekin editoria or mani
festo, which natura.Y reflects
the policy of the regime, is
seen here as notic to all na
tions in the Far Bst that they
will have no pe£e with Red
China. Red Chin is bent on
taking over the vtole subconti
nent, and is nvking no bones
about it.
Fighting
Hawks In
First Win
In a stupendous show of of
fensive basket ball, the Fight
ing Ha^ks of Coach Bill Da-
prano Jroke a four-game losing
streak and won their first game
of th« 1962-63 cage season by
topping region rival Lithonla
High. The Bulldogs were unable
to stop a last-quarter scoring
attack on the part of Saint
Joseph, as the Maroon and White
rallied to a thrilling 46-42 win.
Shooting percentage found the
Hawks on top, with 35% from the
field. The Gold and Black were
held to a low 29%. From the
foul line, Saint Joe hit for 57%,
as compared to 52% for Llthon-
ia.
LARRY DOWNING paced the
inspired Saint Joseph team with
19 points and 10 rebounds. His
play at the post position net
ted the Hawks their margin of
victory. Randy Newby was ano
ther outstanding performer. He
had seven rebounds and nine
points. Ricky Jascomb hit for a
hot 10 points, to contribute to.
the Saint Joe scoring assault.
Bruce Hill was a defensive
giant, and his ball-hawking abi
lity proved another vital factor.
Bruce got three points.
Season totals find Downingth
leading scorer for the fir?
five contests. He has 66 pain
and a 13.2 point-per-fan 1
average. Randy Newby isntf
with 47 points, and he sprt a
9.4 average. Hill is not*r
leader with 33 polntsto lis
credit.
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