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GEORGIA BULLETIN. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 14, 1968 \ \
Priest, Korea Ex-POW
Looks At Vietnam
SAIGON~An Australian priest who spent three years in a North
Korean communist prisoner-of-war camp visited for nine days in
Vietnam “to see the situation” for himself.
Columbian Father Philip
Crosbie, arrested in Hong Chon in
Korea at the end of June. 1950,
and released in May, 1953, was
on his way home to Melbourne
for a vacation after a six-year
tour in Korea.
Interviewed
Crosbie said:
here, Father
“Friends at home were
surprised that, after years in one
‘hot spot’ where the free world
battles against the Red Dragon, I
should choose to spend a few
days in an even hotter spot,
Vietnam. Well, I consider the
struggle here in Vietnam a crucial
one and, to give one reason
among many, I came to Vietnam
to make the gesture of paying my
respects inasmuch as it could be
done by an unknown in a few
short days to the people engaged
in that struggle. I pay my respects
especially to the men of the
armed forces of the three
countries that mean something to
me, the United States, Korea and
Australia.”
On the question why he 1
considers the struggle in Vietnam
vital, the priest said:
men in this fight. 1 am sorry and
ashamed that it has not 50,000.
If the Australian public were
awake to the exigencies of the
situation, we would have 100,000
men here.”
“I visited the Korean
headquarters and paid my
respects to the men there,” the
priest continued. “In Korea you
have-to use a phrase that
communist propaganda tosses
about--a simple, friendly, highly
intelligent people who desire that
they be allowed quietly to work
out their own destiny. But they
are convinced it cannot be done
under a communist regime. In
1950, the greater part of South
Korea was subjected to
communist rule for a few months
( and again in the early part of
1951). The people were very
impressed and they have not
forgotten. The manner of their
impressions may be gathered
from the unrelenting pressure the
South Korean army keeps against
the Viet Cong and the North
Vietnamese army in the area of
Vietnam assigned to them and
from the hard line their political
leaders adopt.”
“Here in Vietnam,” Father
am firmly convinced that Crosbie said, the details of the
can talk peace to a sl ^ ua * lon may be difficult to
“I
you
communist only after he has put
down his hands and entreated
you to hit him no more. He will
keep his promises only as long as
he recalls that you are able and
willing to hit him again. That is
sad but it is true. He may be
dedicated, courageous, cultured
and personable but when it
comes to dealing with the enemy
he is a professed liar and cheat.
It’s there in his book of rules.”
^ unravel and the close-up picture
blurred, but the fundamental
issue is clear. Hanoi is resolutely
following a plan of aggression
aimed at taking over the whole of
Vietnam and that basic plan , is
almost as old as organized
communism in Vietnam. The
details of the plan change as the
situation alters but the original
aim is unchanged. Guerrilla
warfare, terrorism, negotiations
with the enemy, a halt in the
bombing, a coalition government
in the South, these are all worked
into the plan of setting up the
Red Dragon in South Vietnam.
The Koreans see that clearly and
they are most willing to help foil
that plan.”
Father Crosbie first went to
Korea in 1940. In December,
1941, the Japanese arrested him
as an enemy national following
Pearl Harbor. He was repatriated
in early 1942 along with
hundreds of other missionaries of
all faiths. It was then he had his
first look at Saigon, when the
repatriation ship sailed up the
river and anchored for a few
hours at the port. After his
release from the communist
prison camp he was repatriated
by train across Siberia to Moscow
and then flown to the West. Few
men have as much personal and
intimate experience of
communism.
He plans to return to his
mission in Korea next year.
Church Crisis
Will Be Overcome
MONTREAL, Que. (NC)-A priest-theologian said here that
despite present turmoil in Christian churches, he is optimistic the
crisis “will bring to light the image of Christ on the face of the
churches.”
Father Crosbie continued:
“So I salute the men of the
Free World Forces who are
battling to allow our side to
negotiate from a position of
strength, the only feasible
position. I came to Vietnam to
make a small insignificant gesture
of protest against the Kennedys
and McCarthys and the leaders of
the Australian Labor party and
their ilk who undermine our
strength and lead the enemy to
think that a political victory is
still possible' though the hopes of
a military victory have faded.”
On his visit to the First
Australian Task Force
headquarters at Nui Dat east of
Saigon, Father Crosbie
commented:
“I visited the Australian army
camp at Nui Dat. I found
earnest, eager cheerful men
doing a difficult job with a great
spirit. I am proud of them. I am
glad that my country has 5,000
Father J. M. Roger Tillard,
O.P., of the Dominican faculty of
theology, Ottawa, told 300
delegates attending a meeting on
the Scientific Study of Religion
here, that the crisis should be
placed within the framework of
Church history.
“In such a context, it appears
as a turning point between two
ages of faith,” he said.
“The excesses must not blind
us to the great basic intention on
whi h lies today the life of most
of the churches-that is, a return
to the authentic Gospel, reduced
to the essentials and stripped of
all the accessories added on
through the centureis,” Father
Tillard declared.
The crisis of faith should pass
through “the trial of the cross,”
enabling the churches to
rediscover the dimensions of
poverty and self-denial which are
inherent to faith, he declared.
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“How else could they prepare
themselves for the radical
transformation which Christ
demands of them for the age in
the making?
“The present crisis may well
be the acid test which...will bring
to light the image of Christ on
the face of the churches.”
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the Church as miraculous and was attributed to intercession through
the recently beatified Blessed Clelia Barbieri. She is Vittorina
Ansaloni, who was cured of post-operative peritonitis.
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