Newspaper Page Text
The Boat People Cometh...
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a
series of articles on the Boat People
arriving in Atlanta. Future articles will
cover such topics as the case history of a
refugee family and a look at some of the
sponsors in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.)
BY MARIE MULVENNA
A critical shortage of sponsors for
the Vietnamese “Boat People”
refugees arriving in Atlanta has
prompted an emergency appeal for
refugee sponsors from Catholic
Social Services, the local resettlement
arm of the United States Catholic
Conference. Father Jacob A.
Bollmer, Executive Director of
Catholic Social Services, said 330
Vietnamese individuals have arrived
in Atlanta in 1979, 107 of them
during the month of September
alone.
“This is a real emergency
situation,” Father said. “We had 37
more arrive just this week and the
rate is expected to accelerate rapidly
within the next few weeks.”
Estimates, Father Bollmer noted,
expect the rate of refugees arriving to
double for the remainder of the year.
“We desperately need sponsors -
families, neighborhood groups, civic
organizations, business clubs,
individuals. We have always had such
outstanding support from the
Atlanta community and we really do
need their immediate assistance to
fill this tragic and very real need.”
The plight of the scores of “Boat
People” has brought international
attention to the tragic situations in
their homeland. The fleeing families
have been leaving in droves, heading
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Vol. 17 No. 40
Thursday, November 15,1979
$6.00 Per Year
out into the South China Sea in tiny
boats. Over half of them die of
starvation, exposure or when the tiny
vessels capsize. Father Bollmer said
the upcoming monsoon season would
push the tally even higher.
“Those who are fortunate enough
to be picked up at sea, are then
transported to refugee camps
throughout the Far East,” said
Father. Volunteer agencies from
around the world then furnish
transportation for specific numbers
who will go to certain countries
under various quotas.
Those refugees heading for the
United States are sponsored by one
of the many agencies and will then
arrive at one of four American ports
of entry - Atlanta, Seattle, San
Francisco and New York.
Since the refugee exodus began in
1975, some 234,000 have been
resettled in the United States. The
U.S. Government currently permits
the entry of 14,000 per month.
Some 7,000 of those are resettled by
the U.S. Catholic Conference. 1,000
of those have been settled in
metropolitan Atlanta since the fall of
Saigon triggered the dramatic flight
from Vietnam. 80% of those handled
in Atlanta came through Catholic
Social Services, part of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Tam Van Bui, Resettlement
Coordinator, said the Catholic
Conference alerts Atlanta about
incoming families and “then the
sponsor search is on in earnest.”
Sometimes it is handled quickly but
of late it is increasingly difficult
because of the need for additional
sponsors, he said.
“We work closely with the
sponsor,” Father Bollmer said,
adding that $250 per refugee is also
available to the sponsor to assist in
the relocation process. The sponsor
task involves meeting the arriving
family, obtaining an affordable
apartment or lodging, helping them
obtain furnishings, clothing and
assisting with job placement. “That
personal touch - meeting the arrivals
and showing that one-to-one concern
(Continued on page 6)
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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
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POPE SAYS
The Global Threat
Mindszenty.
It is a proud Hungarian name that
the world will remember. It belongs
to a Cardinal of the Church, a prince
who led voices of defiance on the
streets of Budapest until he saw
those voices crushed by the cold and
calculating tanks of an atheistic
system.
Then they wanted him.
The students and farmers of
Hungary made the stand. Their 1956
revolution ignited fires of hope
throughout the
world. The
curtain of iron
chained tight
around this
once jaroud
to-be-free
nation was
rattling, as
hands reached
for the flutter
of new freedom.
It was not to
be. The Soviet
tanks would keep the enslaved
empire intact. Daring leaders were
singled out for quiet elimination.
Mindszenty was on the list.
The Cardinal, an old voice of
protest to the Russian conqueror,
had been on the streets, a leader of
his desperately hopeful flock. The
blitzkrieg unleashed by the Soviet
command brought a stillness to the
angry protestors right before his
eyes. All was lost and now he would
set his carefully planned escape in
motion. Remaining in his beloved
Hungary, an unacceptable thorn to
his pursurers, he placed himself under
the protective might of the United
States flag.
In November 1956, Joseph
Cardinal Mindszenty walked inside
the American Embassy in Budapest
and requested asylum. The free
world had unconscionably hesitated
as the lightly armed Freedom
Fighters frantically begged
a hand of help. There was no
hesitation now. The third floor of
that house in the center of Budapest,
in fact, territory belonging to the
people of the United States, became
the home of the fugitive Cardinal for
the next twenty years.
Embassies are sacred acres dotted
around the world, recognized by the
international community as enclaves
that may not be violated by friend or
foe. In the heat of the Hungarian
incident, where the ringing command
demanded Mindszenty’s final
elimination, not one step of
aggression was taken against his
portion of America in Hungary. The
internnational rule prevailed.
Such was not the case in Iran.
American officials, guaranteed
protection on their safe and sacred
soil, were inexcusably kidnapped by
frivolous, angry youths, frothing
with vengeance for the regal Shah. It
was a dark and unpardonable act of
aggression. It means that the
international brotherhood, a
sometimes delicate and frail
relationship, is weakened still further
as no responsible Iranian voice speaks
out to object in that nation
chronically tom by violence.
The world of nations, divided by
so many issues, must unite here and
now. The violation of the U.S.
Embassy in Iran is a global threat by
irresponsible fanatics.
That’s how it must be seen as lives
now hang in the balance.
Financial Problems
Plague The Vatican
OUTSTANDING WRITER ~ Aidis Zunde, St.
Pius X High School senior, was one of six Georgia
students to receive an award for outstanding
writing. From a field of 8,000 students from
American schools here and abroad, Aidis was one
of 700 students chosen for the National Council
of Teachers of English award on the basis of an
impromptu essay and submitted writing samples.
This is the third consecutive year a St. Pius
student has received this award. “We are proud of
Aidis’ achievement” says Sister Barbara Sitko,
HM, English chairperson. “But even more so of
the consistantly high quality of our program
which encourages and developes young writers.”
Aidis (left) receives his award from Mrs. Betsy
Fodor, Dean of Studies, and Father Terry Young,
principal.
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope
John Paul II complained of widely
publicized “myths” and “fables”
about Vatican finances during his
closing talk Nov. 9 to the world’s
cardinals.
He also said bluntly that the Holy
See has “financial problems.”
The five-day meeting, which
gathered 123 of the world’s 129
cardinals, had the highly secretive
and often controversial finances of
the Holy See as one of its main
topics.
The Vatican’s financial means, “in
comparison with what the
contemporary world spends, for
example, on armaments, are
ultra-modest,” the pope commented.
The Vatican did not publicize the
figures on finances that were
presented to the cardinals. But the
pope indicated that the cardinals had
received a rather complete
accounting of the Holy See’s books.
“Continuing the exchange of
information already begun in August
last year, that is before the first
conclave, you have been able,
venerable brothers, to learn in a
precise way the state of the financial
problems of the Holy See,” the
pontiff said.
“This is very important for the
purpo of forming correct public
opinion in the church and in all
Catholic society as regards this
theme,” he added.
“Those fables spread about the
Holy See’s finances have occasioned
not a small amount of damage,” said
the pope.
“As in ancient times, in our days
too certain myths arise,” he added.
The pope stressed that financial
issues cannot be ignored but asked
that they be examined objectively.
(Continued on page 6)
Cardinals Proclaim
Successful Meeting
HOSTAGES
Khomeini Rejects Papal Plea
TEHERAN, Iran (NC) --
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s
Moslem ruler, rejected an appeal by
Pope John Paul II asking that the
Americans being held hostage in the
U.S. embassy in Teheran be freed.
Iranian students seized about 60
Americans in the embassy Nov..4 in
an effort to compel the United States
to return the deposed shah of Iran,
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, for trial in
Iran.
After Archbishop Annibale
Bugnini, papal pro-nuncio to Iran,
visited Khomeini in the holy city of
Qom, the Iranian leader, in a speech
televised nationally, brushed aside
any offers to negotiate and said the
hostages would be released only if
the deposed shah, being treated for
cancer in a New York hospital, was
turned over to Iran for punishment.
Lecturing the pope, Khomeini
said: “If Christ were here he would
censure (President) Carter. If Christ
were here he would have rescued us
from this enemy of the people and
mankind. You are his representative.
You must do as Christ would.”
Khomeini repeatedly berated the
Vatican for not having protested “50
years of massacre and imprisonment
under the most inhuman conditions’
during the reigns of the deposed shah
and his father.
The Iranian news agency reported
that Khomeini told the papal envoy
that he could not free the hostages
because “the problem is not in my
hands (but) in the hands of the
nation.” Khomeini also called the
Americans in the embassy “agents of
intrigue and espionage,” the agency
said.
At the invitation of Khomeini,
Archbishop Bugnini visited the
hostages in the embassy Nov. 11, the
day after meeting the Iranian leader.
The archbishop said afterward that
the hostages appeared to be fairly
healthy but tired.
He said he was “deeply touched”
when several of them knelt before
him and asked his blessing.
A film clip of the visit, shown on
(Continued on page 6)
John Paul Intervenes
VATICAN CITY (NC) -Pope John Paul II has intervened with
Iran’s Moslem leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, on behalf of scores of
Americans held hostage in the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital of
Teheran, a Vatican spokesman, said.
The Americans were taken hostage by Moslem students
demanding that the United States return the deposed shah of Iran.
“I can confirm that the pope, as on many similar occasions, has
appealed for humanitarian reasons to the Ayatollah Khomeini in
favor of the safety of the persons involved in this episode,” said the
spokesman, Father Romeo Panciroli.
According to Vatican sources, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini,
papal pro-nuncio to Iran, flew to. Teheran Nov. 9 with the pope’s
appeal.
About 400 Moslem students have been holding about 60
Americans hostage since Nov. 4, threatening to kill them unless the
deposed shah is extradited to stand trail in Iran.
The takeover of the U.S. embassy occurred after the shah arrived
at a New York hospital for treatment of cancer.
At the time of the papal message, Iran had refused to see a special
U.S. mission sent by President Jimmy Carter and refused efforts of
the Palestine Liberation Organization to mediate a solution. The
hard line taken by Iran has worried world leaders seeking to defuse
the situation.
SECRET MEETING -- Pope John Paul II addresses cardinals
from throughout the world at the Vatican Synod Hail during a
secret meeting to discuss major church problem;,. The text of the
papal talk was released, but other speeches have been kept
confidential.
ROME (NC) - U.S. cardinals
interviewed in Rome following the
Nov. 5-9 extraordinary meeting of
the College of Cardinals described
the sessions as successful and
satisfying.
Although they were reluctant to
discuss substantive details because of
an agreement that such information
would come through the Vatican
press office, several of the cardinals
talked to NC News Service about
their impressions.
“I was very happy with the
meeting, but I feel anything more
about it should come from the holy
father,” said Cardinal Humberto S.
Medeiros of Boston.
“The holy father consulted us and
we did the best we could,” he added.
“Now he will do what he feels and
knows to be best with the
recommendations we gave to him.”
Asked if he thought the meeting
was successful, Cardinal Medeiros
replied, “Any meeting with the holy
father is successful.”
Cardinal Lawrence Shehan, retired
archbishop of Baltimore, had a
different perspective on the meeting
from the eight other U.S. cardinals
who attended becaue he wasethe only
one who was not present at the two
conclaves in 1978.
“I was very favorably impressed,
deeply impressed, by the meetings,”
he said. “I think it was a significant
(Continued on page 6)
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