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PAGE 7—The Georgia Bulletin, February 5,1981
Hostages Grateful
For Many Prayers
WEST POINT, N.Y. (NC) - Meeting with the
press Jan. 27, former hostage Bruce Laingen
thanked Americans for their prayers during the 52
Americans’ captivity in Iran.
The former charge d’affaires at the American
embassy in Teheran and 40 other ex-captives held a
news conference before leaving West Point.
“We also want to reach out with thanks to all of
our countrymen,” Laingen said at the conference.
He cited “the countless prayers from countless
synagogues and churches all across this country.
He also referred to “the church bells that we
gather have rung in many places all across this
country, church bells that in the future will add, I
think, I hope, certainly for us, a new dimension, not
only of the blessings of Almighty God, but a
reminder, refurbished by this experience, of the
blessings of freedom that we enjoy in this country.”
Another ex-hostage, Kathryn Koob, who was
shown on TV from Iran at Christmas time singing a
Christmas carol, also discussed her adherence to her
religion. She said at the press conference that she
detected no hostility on the part of her captors
toward her Christianity. Iranian militants had asked
her about her religion, she said. She added that
despite her inability to understand why she was
being held hostage, she decided, “God probably had
something in mind for me to do, then or later.”
Four Britons
Jailed In Iran
LONDON (NC) - Complaints of brutality against
Iranian militants by freed U.S. hostages may make
more difficult the release of four Britons imprisoned
in Iran, said Anglican Archbishop Robert Runcie of
Canterbury.
Three of the British citizens are Anglican
missionaries. The other is a businessman.
The U.S. complaints “may not make it easy for
us . . . It’s beginning to get a bit confused now,”
said Archbishop Runcie Jan. 26.
The archbishop added that he was still hopeful
the four would be released.
They were arrested five months ago. Iranian
officials said they were spies, but no formal charges
have been filed.
Bible Opened
To II Chronicles
WASHINGTON (NC) - When Ronald Reagan
was sworn in Jan. 20 as 40th president of the
United States, his left hand rested on his mother’s
Bible, opened to 11 Chronicles 7, 14.
The verse, in the King James version, reads: “If
my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal the
land.”
Ukrainian-Rite
Prelates Named
WASHINGTON (NC) - Pope John Paul II has
appointed an archbishop and a bishop for the
Catholic Ukrainian-Rite in the United States.
Msgr. Stephen Sulyk, 56, pastor of the Church of
the Assumption in Perth Amboy, N.J., was named
archbishop of the Ukrainian-Rite Archeparchy
(Archdiocese) of Philadelphia ahd metropolitan of
the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States.
Basilian Father Innocent Hilarion Lotocky, 65,
pastor of the Church of the Immaculate
Conception, Hamtramck, Mich., was named bishop
of the Ukrainian-Rite Diocese of St. Nicholas,
headquartered in Chicago.
The appointments were announced Jan. 29 by
Archbishop Pio Laghi, apostolic delegate in the
United States.
Dorothy Day’s
Legacy Explored
WASHINGTON (NC) -- The “mode of
leadership” of Dorothy Day, the Catholic social
activist who was a co-founder of the Catholic
Worker Movement, “offers a challenge to
feminists,” said a Georgetown University specialist
in the history of American women.
Although Miss Day was an advocate of the rights
of women and of workers and a pacifist who
opposed U.S. participation in World War II, the
Korean War and the war in Vietnam, she accepted
the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church,
said Carol Hurd Green, a lecturer in history at
Georgetown University and co-editor of the fourth
volume of “Notable American Women.”
Ms. Green spoke on “Dorothy Day and the
Catholic Worker Movement” Jan. 28 at the Library
of Congress in a colloquium sponsored by the
library’s Scholars Committee.
Miss Day once said, Ms. Green recalled, that if a
bishop ordered her to stop publishing the Catholic
Worker, the monthly paper she helped found in
1933, she would do so. No such order was ever
given.
Miss Day, however, came to a point where she
could not take the defense of U.S. involvement in
Vietnam by the late Cardinal Francis Spellman of
New York, Ms. Green said.
Miss Day, who died Nov. 29 at the age of 83,
“upheld Catholic doctrine on birth control and
abortion, which makes her tough for feminists,”
said Ms. Green.
The historian, who called herself “a Catholic
Worker fellow traveler,” said she had known Miss
Day since 1970. *
Rejecting the suggestion that Miss Day ever had
qualms about her faith, Ms. Green said, “The most
striking quality about Dorothy Day was the
absolute consistency of her vision.”
When Miss Day joined the Catholic Church in
1927, after years of writing for leftist publications
and involvement with leftist groups, she was a
30-year-old “single mother, radical, religious
seeker,” whose life “became orderly though lived
amid intense disorder,” Ms. Green said.
“Her joining of the church was not an
intellectual thing,” Ms. Green said. “She joined
because it was the church of the urban poor.”
Nestle Memos Show Plan To Counteract Boycott
BY NC News Service
Nestle is worried, according to organizers of a boycott
of products of the multinational food company, Nestle
S.A., based in Switzeralnd.
Organizers cite as evidence leaked Nestle memos
outlining corporate strategy to counteract the effects of
the boycott, supported by various Catholic and other
religious groups to protest the company’s marketing of
infant formula in the Third World.
Nestle opponents claim that poor water supplies,
dilution of the formula and unsanitary bottles used with
formula all threaten babies’ health in underdeveloped
lands. Opponents say use of natural mothers’ milk should
be encourged instead.
Nestle said three years ago it had stopped aggressive
marketing of infant formula abroad and was promoting
the food through medical personnel instead.
Companies such as Nestle say that through their own
organization, the International Council of Infant Food
Industries, abuses have been curtailed. They also say their
food is a valuable supplement and that they cannot be
blamed for switches in preference from use of mother’s
milk to their products.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s executive
board Jan. 28 approved a code of conduct banning general
advertising of powdered milk for infants. But the board,
meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, did not make adherence
to the code by companies such as Nestle mandatory. The
proposal will be submitted to an assembly of WHO
member governments as a recommendation - not a
regulation. Representatives of Switzerland and the United
States, where Nestle is active, reportedly rejected making
the code mandatory.
The counterattack against the boycott of Nestle
products apparently began in August 1980 when E.W.
Saunders, a Nestle vice president in Switzerland, visited
the U.S. operations of the company and then wrote an
internal memo to a superior outlining steps for
combatting the boycott. The Saunders memo and another
Nestle corporate memo were later leaked to the press and
to such groups as the infant Formula Action Coalition
(INFACT), boycott organization.
According to news accounts, the Nestle strategy is to
include use of favorable press treatment, including an
article in Fortune magazine by a writer with ties to a
ON AMERICAN SOIL - Former American
hostages wave to loved ones as they arrive at
Stewart Air Force Base near Newburgh, N.Y.,
before being transported to West Point to spend
two private days with their families. (NC Photo)
conservative Washington “think tank,” the Ethics and
Public Policy Center, which received $25,000 from Nestle.
In the Fortune article, church and religious groups
supporting the boycott are described as “Marxists
marching under the banner of Christ.”
Also in the memo, Saunders wrote that “we have an
urgent need to develop an effective counterpropaganda
operation.”
INFACT and other Nestle opponents say the memo is
an indication the large firm is worried about boycott
activity. “The memo indicates just how successful the
Nestle boycott and other forms of pressure have been,”
INFACT said in a statement.
Father Brian O’Shaughnessy, head of an area INFACT
branch in Albany, N.Y., hailed the leaking of the Nestle
documents. “It reveals for the first time that the boycott
is having a tremendous effect and it also confirms a
Nestle’s shift in strategy away from public debate to
behind-the-scenes influencing of church, health and
community leaders.” The memo from Saunders discussed
grass-roots efforts by company officials to win good will.
Father O’Shaughnessy also has suggested holding sales
of flowers to raise money for the boycott in connection
with Mothers’ Day.
The Diocese of Albany endorsed the boycott in 1978.
The National Council of Churches (NCC) and the
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, an
umbrella group for 170 Catholic religious orders and
Protestant organizations, are among leading supporters of
the boycott.
The Rev. William Howard, NCC president, also has
protested the Nestle strategy.
“You and your colleagues are consciously conspiring to
discredit those of us who have criticized your marketing
practices,” he said in a letter to Nestle director Arthur
Furer. “You have contributed to an unjust attack on the
National Council of Churches and, more importantly, you
have sought to divert attention from the real issue, which
is the need for significant changes in Nestle’s infant
formula marketing practices.”
Catholic Daily
Raided In La Paz
San Salvador Bishop Upholds Moderate Stance
LA PAZ, Bolivia (NC) - The Bolivian bishops, already
at odds with the nation’s military government because
they have been gathering evidence of human rights
violations, condemned an attack by security forces on the
staff of the Catholic daily Presencia and the chairman of
its board, Auxiliary Bishop Genaro Prata of La Paz.
The daily, with a 70,000 circulation, is owned by the
bishops.
The Ministry of the Interior closed the daily for a week
early in January for publishing what it called a libelous
article on women. A mob in the town of Santa Cruz set
fire to Presencia’s branch office, and in La Paz security
forces raided the main office while the board was in
session.
Shortly before, the editor had been summoned to the
ministry and asked to reveal the sources of a planned
story on the appointment of more generals to government
posts. He refused.
“He was told he would face state security measures.
The raiding soldiers ordered members of the board to
stand against the wall, hands up, while they were searched
and abused by insults,” the bishops said in their protest.
“We condemn the physicial and moral abuse, manhandling
included, of the board and of Bishop Prata. We condemn
the illegal closing of the daily and its publishing house,
Lux.”
They said the ban impeded publication in Bolivia of
the message by Pope John Paul II for World Peace Day on
respect for freedom as a foundation of peace.
Another daily in La Paz, El Diario, said in an editorial
that while the story was indeed detrimental to women,
there are libel laws to curb such cases and that the raid
and closing were “unconstitutional.” It also said the press
law bans political intervention in the publication of
periodicals.
The bishops apologized for the publication of the
article considered detrimental to women.
The article, a fiction piece called “Eyes Curse,”
appeared in the literary section. One of the characters
criticized frivolous city women, “often giving themselves
as prostitutes.”
The bishops said they issued directives to avoid
repetition.
“We are saddened by the insult to womanhood,” they
said.
The bishops’ statement also rebuked Interior Minister
Luis Arce Gomez, who said in a televised address that
Presencia was conspiring against the government.
“Presencia does not engage in conspiracy. Its sole
purpose is to divulge the doctrine of the church. Thus
closing the daily is an attempt to silence the voice of the
church and to further deteriorate its relations with the
government,” the bishops said.
“We shall continue pressing for justice and human
rights, for social peace for the Bolivian people, even at the
cost of any sacrifice,” added the bishops.
Presencia resumed publication the second week of
January.
CELEBRATING FREEDOM - People of all one building toss thousands of strips of Yellow
ages wearing yellow ribbons and holding Pages as the buses carrying the liberated hostages
homemade signs of welcome line Washington’s roll by on their way to the White House. (NC
Pennsylvania Avenue to cheer the arrival of the Photos by Bob Strawn)
former American hostages. Employees on top of
YELLOW RIBBONS EVERYWHERE - former hostages. Thousands of ribbons could be
American flags which dotted the Washington seen on doors and windows of offices, on signs
scene a week earlier for the inauguration of and banners, on trees, children, animals and even
President Reagan had to move over for a new the lens of a CBS television camera. (NC Photos
symbol — the yellow ribbon. They were by Bob Strawn)
everywhere as the city welcomed home the
SAN SALVADOR, El
Salvador (NC) --
Salvadorans showed
common sense in ignoring
the recent call to join the
leftist guerrilla offensieve,
said Bishop Arturo Rivera
Damas, apostolic
administrator of San
Salvador.
“Not all peaceful
means’’ to resolve the
country’s problems have
been used, he said.
“We exhort the people
to maintain serenity. It is
not the church that is
going to tell them whether
to join the insurrection,”
the bishop said in a
homily. “The church has
given them enlightment on
the moral questiosn . . .
The people must decide
their own desitny.”
The bishop said the
people face a dilemma,
caught between capitalism
which is selfish in practice
and the risk of
communism.
His words were
considered a call for
moderation in a country
torn by political strife for
more than two years. They
were also seen as
expressing a viewpoint not
affected by leftist
propaganda or government
censorship.
The bishop said people
no longer believe the
government’s National
Radio Network or the
clandestine Liberation
Radio of the leftist
guerrillas.
“Yet the people have a
right to be informed.
Truth is one of the basic
ingredients to peace,” the
bishop added.
Spokesmen for the
civilian-military
government said the
guerrilla offensive begun
Jan. 10 collapsed after one
week. Guerrilla forces said
they were regrouping for
another attack.
Bishop Rivera Damas
said “indeed there has
been serious abuse of
power” since the October
1979 coup which has not
been corrected.
But he added that the
conditions were not right
yet to permit Catholics
morally to join an
insurrection. Previously a
statement by 10 Catholic
and two Protestant groups
in El Salvador said
conditions, such as
prolonged government
repression, made it
morally permissible for
Christians to take arms
against the government.
“Not all the peaceful
ways have been exhausted
to solve the conflict,” said
Bishop Rivera Damas.
“Unfortunately, many of
the leaders in the warring
factions refuse with a
narrow mind to follow
such a path and instead
they take to the trenches,
saying there is no other
way than arms.”
The bishop also said he
was not sure that
conditions would improve
no matter which side wins
the current conflict.
“It is not clear to the
people what consequences
the establishment of a
socialist system could
have, in what measure it
could be better than the
present one . . . They
know that the left always
Bishop Rivera Damas
drifts toward communism,
as they also know that the
right moves toward an
inhuman, selfish system.”
Salvadorans “do not see
what real possibility for
success the leftist
insurrection has,’’ he
added.
Salvadorans see the
present conflict, not as
deciding real economic
and social issues, but “as a
political struggle between
two factions: one that
seeks to take power, the
other that seeks to keep
power and privilege,” he
said.
Bishop Rivera Damas
urged the people to
maintain their skeptism
about both sides “as long
as this is a domestic
struggle . . . But if
unfortunately the conflict
becomes internationalized
and goes beyond a civil
war by the intervention of
foreign forces, we will be
facing a new moral
situation that calls for a
different stand and
commitment.”
He protested raids by
the military on church
property in several cities
and said there was no
justification for the
attacks.
“People are tired of so
much violence. They
condemn indiscriminate
repression and unpunished
political murder and they
ignore the appeals by the
left to fabricate weapons
and join their armed
struggle,” he said.
On the other hand,
“the people generally
think that leftist means
communist, that therefore
the goals of the offensive
are communist goals.
Little can be done, to
convince the people
otherwise,” he said.
“However, among the
people there is agreement
with the left that
Salvadorans need to reject
domination by the United
States. Yet, when the
offensive is carried out
with the help of another
imperialsim, there is doubt
and confusion: What is the
use of shedding blood and
giving up life to liberate
ourselves from U.S.
domination, if by the same
token we fall under the
domination of the
communist big power?”
the bishop asked.