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PAGE 7—September 18,1980
New Concerns Over Nuclear War
BY JIM LACKEY
WASHINGTON (NC) - The frightening possibility still
looms that someday soon the world might end in a
nuclear holocaust. And so the Carter administration’s
announcement in August of a major shift in nuclear
strategy highlights once again the importance of the
debate over the best means of avoiding nuclear war and
the possibility for disarmament.
The administration’s new position, embodied in
“Presidential Directive 59,” gives greater priority to
targeting military and political outposts in the Soviet
Union. It replaced a policy in which the United States had
adhered primarily to the concept of mutually assured
destruction - dubbed MAD by both proponents and
opponents - in which the threat of massive destruction of
civilian population centers served as the major deterrent
to either side’s firing the first nuclear salvo.
The major advantage to targeting military and political
positions, according to the administration, is that the
Unit^i States can respond in a limited way to limited
SALVADORIANS:
strikes by the Soviet Union. Without such a capability,
officials argue, in the event of a limited Soviet attack the
United States could only choose between launching a
massive strike against Soviet cities or doing nothing.
Knowing that the United States would face that kind
of choice, and knowing that the United States probably
would decline to risk a massive response to a limited
Soviet strike, the Soviets could be emboldened to attempt
a first strike without fear of retribution, the argument
continues.
Some people would consider either strategy immoral
because both permit the use of nuclear weapons for either
deterrence or limited use. But in an imperfect world
where a choice must be made between two potentially
dangerous options, the decision to redirect strikes away
from civilians might seem at first glance to be at least
somewhat preferable.
One member of Congress, Rep. Robert Doman
(R-Calif.) said as much when he remarked that the old
strategy, by contemplating the killing of civilians, “flew
directly in the face of Judeo-Christian ethical standards.”
He congratulated the administration for recognizing what
‘Please Help UsV
BY JAIME FONSECA
WASHINGTON (NC) - “Please help us so our children
don’t grow up seeing bloodshed every day,” a man told
Bishop John E. McCarthy of Galveston-Houston, Texas,
during the prelate’s visit to El Salvador.
“My overall feeling about the four-day visit to El
Salvador is great sadness,” said the bishop, who led a
three-man team that returned Sept. 3 from the strife-torn
Central American country.
The other members of the team were Father J. Bryan
Hehir and Thomas Quigley of the International Justice
and Peace Office of the U.S. Catholic Conference.
While in the capital of San Salvador, Bishop McCarthy
celebrated Sunday Mass for about 1,000 persons packed
into an unfinished church.
“At the end people came to me. ‘Help us to achieve
peace,’ some said. Others talked about their missing
relatives. Others pleaded for a change of policy by the
Carter administration,” said Bishop McCarthy.
Remarks Challenged
SAN FRANCISCO (NC) - The education director of
the California Catholic Conference challenged remarks
made about private schools by an official of the U.S.
Department of Education.
At a meeting in the department’s San Francisco
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deputy undersecretary for intergovernmental and special
services, told 20 representatives of California schools that
the department’s role was “to point out the successes of
public schools.”
“The troubling thing,” Bakalis said, “is that people are
voting with their feet and going to private schools.”
Noting that “nearly one third of the delegates at the
recent Democratic Party National Convention were public
school educators,” Bakalis hailed their participation as a
“revolution” realizing the “political influence of public
educators.” He added, “Unless we have this political
clout, we won’t get anything done.”
Joseph McElligott, CCC education director, told
Bakalis that “Congress had established the new
Department of Education to administer federal programs
for children, both in public schools and private schools.”
“The department is not the Department of Public
Education, but the Department of Education,” McElligott
said.
Reviewing the activities of the new department,
McElligott decried the Carter “administration’s
emasculation of the role and function of the
congressionally established Office of Non-public
Education.” He also criticized recent administration
actions resulting in a decline in the participation of
California parochial school students in federally funded
integrated education and bilingual education projects.
Noting that Bakalis inferred racist motivation in
enrollment increases in private schools, McElligott pointed
out that “California’s Catholic schools enroll a higher
percentage of minority group students than do the public
schools of the state.”
“Rather than being upset about the movement of
students into private schools,” the Catholic conference
official said, “the department might better investigate the
reasons why increasing numbers of poor minority families
are seeking out private and parochial school education for
their children.”
Apologizing at the end of the meeting for his remarks
about private education, Bakalis said he should have
remembered the audience to whom he was speaking.
“Perhaps the most moving plea came from this man
who said: ‘Please you have to help us. Our children are
growing up seeing bloodshed every day, everywhere.’”
More than 5,400 Salvadorans have died in political
violence since January, according to Socorro Juridico, the
human rights organization of the Archdiocese of San
Salvador.
The U.S. government is supporting El Salvador’s ruling
civilian-military junta, State Department officials say, as
the best way to avoid full fledged civil war between the
extreme right and left. Salvadoran critics of the U.S.
policy complain that U.S. military aid is being used by
soldiers to repress the people and that economic aid is
being used to prop up an unpopular government.
The fact-finding visit led by the bishop, “punctuated
by gunfire and bombings at night,” Bishop McCarthy said,
indicated that “there is ample evidence of real repression,
of great oppression against the people and against the
church, as proven by killings of dozens of lay leaders, the
murder of seven priests and the assassination of
Archbishop Romero.”
Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, a critic of
the country’s human rights situation and a voice for
conciliation, was killed by an unknown gunman in March
as he celebrated Mass. Bishop Arturo Rivera Damas of
Santiago de Maria was named apostolic administrator of
the archdiocese.
The U.S. team made its visit at the suggestion Of U.S.
missionaries working in El Salvador and by the invitation
of Bishop Rivera, who arranged interviews with peasants,
urban workers, students, church personnel, government
officials, members of the armed forces and people
displaced by violence in rural areas. Team members were
named by Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco,
president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
and the U.S. Catholic Conference.
“We talked with more than 200 persons in the most
diverse walks of life. The result was always overwhelming
sadness. You detect constantly a mood of fear, of
oppression hanging over the entire nation,” said Bishop
McCarthy.
“Yet there is a greater, positive feeling of dignity and
courage among the people. The most positi. _ reaction is
to see the dynamic life of the church manifested in every
level. For instance, you talk with the refugees who have
suffered so much from violence, yet they continue their
commitment to preach the Gospel,” he added.
“Both clergy and lay people are threatened because
they are effective leaders, effective preachers of the
Gospel, willing to risk everything they have to speak of
justice and human dignity,” said the bishop.
He said many rural towns have been ravaged by
security and paramilitary forces.
“A large portion of the people we saw said they had
lost close relatives,” he said.
What do people think of the junta?
“The answer depended on the group you were talking
to,” said the bishop, and people have polarized around the
question.
“Some see the junta as centrist, others in the right as a
defender of order. But most people do not see it that way.
The message they get is of a right-wing dominated group
using security forces to repress people’s organizations,
killing leaders who demand change. They do not perceive
any actions to stop violence by the ultraright,” he added.
Bishop McCarthy said that many pin some hope on the
Popular Revolutionary Front, a broad coalition of trade
unions, peasants, students and political groups advocating
programs of social and economic reforms.
“Many see it as a promising development, some church
people included. Others would like to see the junta get
ahead in the land reform program,” he said.
“The dominant feeling is that you see the church at
work everywhere. Through the Christian communities
peasants have today a different conviction of their own
role from what they had 10 years ago. They feel
committed in responsible leadership to preach the Gospel
and live its consequences. For me it was a great religious
experience to see them risking everything for that inner
conviction,” said Bishop McCarthy.
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he said was the Soviet strategy to survive a nuclear war,
not just be prepared to deter it.
But there also is a large body of thought that holds
that a nuclear war cannot be fought on a “limited” basis
and that, however immoral the MAD concept may have
been, it was preferable to the increased possibility of war
that the new strategy may present.
Members of Congress for Peace through Law (MCPL),
an organization of House and Senate members advocating
arms control and disarmament, sent a letter to President
Carter saying that the new policy could have an effect
opposite to the one intended. They said that a limited
nuclear war is an “illusion” and that the new policy would
lead to all sides being more willing to use nuclear weapons
in the mistaken belief that their use could be controlled
and would not escalate.
“Suppose the Soviets were preparing an invasion of
Western Europe,” said the 27 congressmen who signed the
MCPL letter. “Fearing that such an invasion might
provoke us into an attack upon their nuclear arsenal, they
would be forced to fire their missiles in order to avoid
losing them. And the mere suspicion that the Soviets
might behave in this way would force us into the same
‘use or lose’ syndrome, in which the pressures compelling
us to launch our own weapons might well prove
irresistible.”
The administration’s announcement also has raised
concerns that arms limitation treaties such as SALT II
might no longer be possible. Because of the new U.S.
policy, neither side will want to sign a new arms
agreement until each can restructure and add to their
weapons systems to make their capability for a limited
nuclear war credible.
Ironically, news of the presidential directive emerged at
about the same time that the Vatican was renewing its
warnings that the world remains on the brink of nuclear
destruction. The Vatican told a United Nations-sponsored
conference on nuclear non-proliferation that errors in
judgment, information and interpretation between nations
possessing nuclear weapons could tip the existing “balance
of terror.”
Whether the new U.S. policy contributes to the threat
of war or adds to the potential for peace remains to be
seen.
LETTER FROM SADAT - Pope John Paul 11
takes a look at a letter from Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat presented by Egyptian Vice
President Hosni Moubaraq at the pope’s summer
residence at Castelgandolfo. The letter and
Moubaraq’s half-hour discussion with the pope
centered on Jerusalem. (NC Photo)
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Everything is so much more meaningful when regarded with the eyes of
faith. Missionaries around the world, like this Sister in Sierra Leone,
are bringing this added dimension—this vital faith dimension - to
children whose lives are drab and meaningless.
Won’t YOU help us support them in their work of spreading the
knowledge of God?
We are the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, aiding missionaries
in Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America.
As school opens, I’ll help support missions bringing the knowledge and love of God
around the world. In addition to my prayers, I am enclosing my sacrifice ot:
□$1,000 n$500 DS200 D$100 a$50 n$20 D$10 D$5 DOther $
Name
Address
City State s:: r.,7,. i.u—Zip
Please ask the missioners to remember my special intentions in their Masses and prayers
Send your gift to:
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH
10-18-80
Rev. Msgr. William J. McCormack
National Director
DepL C, 366 Fifth Avenue
New York,'New York 10001
OR:
The Reverend James A. Miceli
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Atlanta, Georgia 30308
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