Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1964
PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN
DIFFICULTIES, HARASSMENT
Church Experiencing ‘Refined
Persecution’ Under Castroism
(The author of this report,
who is a staff member of the
Catholic Star Herald, Camden
diocesan paper, has just return
ed from his second trip to Cuba
in less than year. Last Septem
ber he traveled to the island
alone and was restricted in his
movements to Havana or to guid
ed tours. This time, in company
with the 25 U. S. correspon
dents invited by Fidel Castro
to report on conditions in Cuba,
Jones was able to move about
freely.)
BY ARTHUR JONES
N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE
HAVANA— Despite an ap
parent “hands-off policy by
Fidel Castro and an official
government promise of “reli
gious freedom," the Catholic
Church in Cuba is experiencing
difficulties ranging from har
assment to “refined persecu
tion*'—the degree of intensity
varying from province to pro
vince throughout the island.
It is through Castro—who
never speaks publicly of the
Church—that arrangements are
made for new priests to come to
Cuba, the latest being a con
tingent of six diocesan priests
from Belgium.
HOWEVER Jose Felipe Car-
neado, an attorney, head of the
Prensa Latina news agency,
is the Cuban responsible to the
government on Church-State
matters. He is the man through
whom Church needs are met:
flour for Hosts, cloth for habits,
transportation, travel arrange
ments. Carneado also is the
man who explained the govern
ment attitude toward religion:
“absolute respect toward the
people In their beliefs. Ours is
a socialistic revolution, in our
relationship with the Church
we apply the principles of Marx-
Leninism.”
My interview with Carneado
the day before I left Cuba was
the final piece in a jigsaw
built up of Interviews, obser
vations and discussions with
many people in various parts
of the once beautiful—but now
somewhat shabby—Pearl of the
Antilles, Those who told me of
the problems faced by the
Church will not be named, I
was careful to photograph only
those persons from whom I did
not request information.
CHURCH and government of
ficials both agree that condi
tions vary and that acts against
the Church are often the result
of petty officialdom at a local
level. An exception to this was
the comment of one priest who
said the government-operated
television station is planning a
series of plays which will de
pict religious beliefs generally
in an absurd or bad light.
There are two bastions of
Catholic strength which can
surmount most local anti-
Church obstacles by going
directly to the government and
complaining; Archbishop En-
rigue Perez Serantes of San
tiago de Cuba at one end of
the island, and Msgr. Cesar
Zacchi, Vatican charge d* af
faires in Havana., at the other.
Between these two points, ac
cording to the persons with
whom I spoke, almost anything
can happen.
THE archbishop of Santiago
derives his strength from his
personal stature as man and
prelate and the fact that he is
credited with saving Castro’s
life when he intervened with
the Battista regime to prevent
the mass shooting of survivors
of the attack on Moncada for
tress on July 26, 1953. Con
trary to some popular reports
Archbishop Perez Serantes did
not know Fidel Castro; rather
he was concerned with the fate
of a band of young men who
faced death without a trial.
Msgr. Zacchi, who is treat
ed as papal nuncio though in
actuality he is only charge
d'affaires, moves in diplomatic
circles and the highest eche
lon of the Cuban revolutionary
government as he cares for the
Church’s welfare. Catholics,
lay and cleric, in trouble, us
ually can get their problems
solved quickly by calling or con
tacting the nuncio—but his ene
mies try to discredit him by
calling him “the Red monsi
gnor."
HIS ENEMIES can be found in
two areas, those communists
who would prefer to see the
Church eliminated from Cuban
life, and those Catholics who
would prefer to see the Church
a “Church of Silence" rather
than one presently coexisting
with a communist regime. Yet
his foes notwithstanding, Msgr.
Zacchi has brought more than
43 priests to serve in Cuba
since the mass expulsion by
Castro in September, 1961, and
within the past year one order
of nuns has reopened its novi
tiate and a second has open
ed a novitiate. Some nuns and
Brothers have returned to the
island also, but I was told by
a reliable source that the mon
signor's main difficulty is per
suading orders to send priests
and Religious to Cuba. This
would ring true when one rea
lizes that mainly Belgian dio
cesan priests—plus newly or
dained Cubans who have stud
ied abroad—are coming to Cuba
to ease the dearth.
Direct actions against the
Church—or Catholics—appear
to fall into two categories: ar
rest or subtle “punishment."
There are many reports of
priests, seminarians and lay
people being arrested out-of
hand, or for minor infringe-
ements. Only last month in
Camaguey province three sem
inarians were arrested because
they spent the night in a church
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while awaiting a train.
A PRIEST went to the prison
and after several hours was
able to secure their re—
lease—but not before local of
ficials had compiled a long list
of details about family and re
latives, their jobs and incomes.
These lists are sometimes us
ed to make it difficult for Catho
lics to get or keep jobs, ob
tain all their rations, or to
travel. Practicing Catholics,
for most churches have const
ant communist “watchdogs,"
face similar hazards.
The degree of involvement
tends to increase the hazard.
Altar boys are heckled—or oc
casionally thumped, as happen
ed during a recent farewell
party for a priest.
A PRIEST was arrested for
holding the farewell party with
out a permit, and while he was
at the police station a small mob
manhandled some of the boys
attending the gathering in the
church courtyard. Because the
parishioners were jocularly
singing “Why are we waiting
to eat" when food was to be
served at the party, the mob
heckled the boys about whether
or not they were hungry.
The Incident was settled, but
not forgotten. It served as one
more reminder for Catholics to
be careful.
In Pinar del Rio a Chinese
priest*manages three parishes.
He can get to one of diem only
on Sundays and in his absence
during the week the parish
ioners held a procession to
mark a feast day—and were
arrested for parading without
a permit. While many just en
dure the wrath of local com
munists and anti-Catholics,
others directly arouse their ire.
“WE COULD do without one
of our parishioners who goes
through the town ringing a bell
calling the children to come to
catechism class," said one
man, “because he only makes
it tougher. We admire his mot
ives but not his methods."
There are some rules laid
down for the religious faiths in
Cuba— there is a synagogue
in Havana and two Protestant
seminaries in the south—which
include: No schools, religion
taught only in churches, and no
outside demonstrations such as
processions. Some parishes are
allowed to hold religion class
es, mainly for children, in pri
vate homes. Other parishes
are not. There is no hard-and-
fast rule.
I ASKED Carneado about the
reports of harassment and ar
rest during our interview in his
office where a framed picture
of Lenin watched the proceed
ings. He at first classfied them
as “ridiculous," but later, in
explaining government policy,
added: “It is possible that you
might have some accuracy
there. We have a young re
volution, we cannot be sure
.that all officials at all levels
will strictly adhere to offici
al policy. In cases where vio
lation of policy has been brought
to our attention the necessary
action has been taken."
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Carneado continued: “You
must understand, however, that
following the establishment of
the Cuban revolutionary gove
rnment many counter-revolu
tionaries took advantage of re
ligious organizations, Catholic
and Protestant, to develop coun
ter-revolutionary activities.
There was in church circles
very deeply established anti
communist propaganda in this
country which was appealed to
by the counter-revolutionaries
to fight against the revolution.
THE DIRECTOR of Church-
state affairs explained that his
title was not an official govern
ment position; he had helped
to solve a couple of problems
between the Church and the
government and then found he
was responsible for solving all
of them. “Perhaps one day we
will establish an organization
for taking care of these things—
though not a ministry—but at
present I handle all of them."
He continued then with his
discussion about the practical
steps the government had been
taking. He said that by the end
of last year more than 37
priests had returned to Cuba.
Twenty-two more, from Spain,
Canada and Belgium, plus re
turning Cuban-born priests, are
expected this year, he said.
Four Spanish nuns had arrived
in Havana the previous day and
one nun had accompanied the
six Belgian priests who came to
Havana on April 28.
COMMENTING on incidents
he said that the government
policy had been to maintain
a level of normalcy, that any
untoward actions against the
Church now would serve no pur
pose.
“The Church has privileges
—much to the annoyance of
many Cuban people—but the
Cuban government does not pub
licize those areas where the
Church and State are existing
together. We do not propagan
dize on the fact that more
priests are coming in, and nuns,
and that the nuns are now ope
rating a nursery and old folks
home." (Both of these state
ments were later confirmed.)
“The government has been
trying to avoid tensions. The
responsible people in the
Church in Cuba have similarly
been trying to avoid tensions.
Both groups are working to eli
minate areas of tension bet
ween sectors of the Cuban
people.
"UP TO now," said Came-
ado,” there has been trial and
error. The government has
made mistakes, the Church and
religious organizations have
made mistakes too. Remember
that the Church here was not
the Church of Poland, or Hun
gary or the Soviet Union. Here
the Church did not identify quite
so directly with the people be
cause the priests were Spanish,
not Cuban.
“They were a holdover from
the days of colonializing Spain,
and this was the last country
to break with Spain—though it
did not do it completely be
cause the Spanish Church was
still here. The priests in Po
land were national priests who,
in a communist country, act as
Poles. But in Cuba 90% of the
priests were Spanish who did
not have the patriotic roots to
identify themselves with the Cu
ban nation.”
CARNEADO said that this
was “precisely why” 500 pri
ests left or were recalled when
more than 100 priests were
ordered, then forced, to leave
by the Cuban government.
He said that among the re
ligious organizations many had
felt that religious organizations
had a right to participate in the
political life of the island be
cause the Church in practice had
involved itself in Cuban polit
ics—especially in the election
of senators— under preyious
governments.
“WE DO not want errors
on our part, we do not want
tensions between the Church
and the Cuban revolutionary
government, and we do not want
religious organizations used for
political purposes. We have
even gone so far to allow some
of the expelled priests to re
turn Religion,” he conclud
ed, “is practiced freely”.
NEGRO APPLICANTS
EUCHARISTIC
COnCRCSS
BOMBAY 1968
EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS SEALS—Three series of seals,
with 10 seals to the series, have been issued tor the 38th
International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Bombay,
India, Nov. 28 to Dec. 6. Their purpose is to make the Con
gress widely known and to raise funds to meet its expenses.
These are examples of the first series of seals which deals
with liturgical symbols. The other two series will deal with
Catholic landmarks in India and popes and prelates con
nected with the Eucharistic congress.
CATHOLIC PUBLICATION
Newsletter Puts
Protestant View
HUNTINGTON, Ind. (NC)—A
bi-monthly newsletter, to carry
material condensed from some
100 U.S, Protestant publications
and designed to give Catholic
priests ' a broad and continuiig
view of what our brothers are
saying,” will be launched here
in September,
Entitled “Voices of Our
Brothers,” the new eight-page
publication will be published by
the Robert B, Hensley Family
Foundation, lnc„ of Louisville,
Ky„ and edited by Dale Fran
cis, columnist for Our Sunday
Visitor, national Catholic week
ly published here.
FRANCIS, who edits Our Sun
day Visitor's "Operation Un
derstanding” edition, which is
circulated among 14,000 Pro
testant and other Christian
clergymen, said in his current
(Aug.9) OSV column that “the
ecumenical movement requires
that we not only speak but that
we listen as well,”
His contact with Protestant
clergymen through "Operation
Understanding,” Francis said,
has produced what he called the
"valid complaint” that while
Protestants are “keeping up
with developments in the Catho
lic Church, there is no similar
effort on the part of our (Cath
olic) clergy to keep up with de
velopments within Protestan
tism.”
FRANCIS said the new publi
cation, to be issued on the 1st
and 15th of each month to
priests, will carry ' significant
items” from the Protestant
press but will not attempt a
commentary on the material.
Items will be collected from
publications covering every re
ligious group in the nation, in
cluding Greek Orthodox and
Jewish, and secular publica
tions that deal with religious
matters.
FRANCIS said the newsletter
will "first of all give our clergy
a chance to hear the voices of
their brothers, it will let un
derstanding travel in both di
rections,”
Robert B, Hensley is presi
dent of the Louisville founda
tion which carries his name, A
convert to Catholicism, Hens
ley "became a Catholic while
retaining his great love and re
spect for his Protestant herit
age and friends,” according to
Francis,
A FORMER Protestant preach
er himself, Francis has been
prominent in the Catholic pub
lishing field for a number of
years as columnist, editor and
author.
"Voices of Our Brothers”
will be printed and distributed
by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc,, for
$6,00 per annual subscription.
PROPAGANDA MOVE
Claim Sudan Uses
Dean Rusk Report
C OAST TO ( OAST. Sister
M. Raymund McKay, presi
dent of Marymount Manhat
tan College. New' York City,
since 1961. has been named
president of Marymount Col
lege in Palos Verdes Estates.
Calif. A native of Northern
Ireland. Sister Raymund
came to the U. S. in 1934 to
join the Religious of the
Sacred Heart of Mary.
NAIROBI, Kenya (NC)~Su
danese Catholic refugees here
charge that the Sudan's gov
ernment is using statements of
U.S. officials for propaganda
purposes.
They report that a U.S. State
Department document and tes
timony by Secretary of State
Dean Rusk have been published
by the government-owned Khar
toum paper, Sudan Daily, to
back up the claim that there is
no religious persecution in that
African nation, which expelled
all foreign missioners from its
southern provinces in March.
THE STATE Department’s
Office of Public Services of the
Bureau of Public Affairs re
leased a statement in April say
ing that the missioners' expul
sion was "based on political,
rather than religious, conside
rations.” The Sudan Daily re
printed the statement in full.
It also published a story on
testimony given by Rusk to a
Knights To Act
On Membership
NEW ORLEANS, La. (NC)--
The Supreme Council of the
Knights of Columbus meets here
Aug. 18 to 20, with resolutions
from ten state councils propos
ing changes in membership re
quirements facing delegates.
The session will be the 83rd
annual gathering of the govern
ing body of the fraternal benefit
society of Catholic men. Some
400 delegates are expected.
The resolutions on member
ship stem from controversies
over admission of Negro appli
cants. All favor relaxing the
present laws of the society, in
force from the organization’s
early days.
AT PRESENT, an applicant
can be refused membership if
five negative votes are cast
against him by members of a
council when his name is sub
mitted for a vote.
Seven of the resolutions to
be acted upon at the meeting
hete, according to a K. of C.
statement, would change the law
to require negative votes by
more than one-third of the coun
cil members voting to reject an
applicant; one would require
more than one-quarter nega
tive votes and two seek change
in the law without offering spe
cific recommendations.
THE K. OF C. said the reso
lutions were submitted by state
councils of Colorado, Indiana,
Minnesota, New Jersey, Nova
Scotia, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Quebec, Michigan and Wiscon
sin.
Voting on the resolutions will
take place Aug. 20.
The supreme council meeting
will open after a Solemn Pon
tifical Mass in St. Louis cathe
dral. Archbishop John P. Cody,
apostolic administrator of New
Orleans, will preside; Bishop
Charles P. Greco of Alexan
dria, La., supreme K. of C.
chaplain, will be celebrant; and
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph B.
Brunini of Natchez-Jackson,
Miss., will preach.
SUPREME Knight John W.
McDevitt will give his report
on the activities of the society.
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congressional committee. It re
ported that the secretary of
state said he knew of "no per
secution or violence used
against missionaries in the Su
dan” other than asking them
to leave the country. The ex
pulsion, he was quoted as say
ing, grew out of an internal
political problem.
CATHOLIC Sudanese regu-
gees here cite the government
takeover of Catholic schools In
the southern provinces in 1957,
the 1962 law making virtually
all missionary efforts illegal
and Incidents of violence against
Catholics as proof of religious
persecution in their country.
They also cite as an instance
of discrimination the fact that
the Sudan’s passport regula
tions exclude ministers of re
ligion and journalists from get
ting the emergency seven-day
entry visas to the country which
are granted to other travelers
in case of necessity.
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