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Georgia Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 19 No. 27 Thursday, July 23,1981 $8.00 per year NICARAGUA Priests, Bishops Reach Agreement CHILDREN OF WAR - Father Ken Meyers, a missionary from the Cleveland Diocese, is surrounded by orphans at his home in Zaragoza, El Salvador. At the end of June, Father Meyers was providing for 190 children who were homeless as a result of the civil war in El Salvador. (NC Photos by George Houde) BY RAUL OROZCO MANAGUA, Nicaragua (NC) - Four priests in the Nicaraguan government and the Nicaraguan bishops have reached an agreement allowing the priests to temporarily retain their posts as long as they “abstain in public and private from the exercise of their priestly ministry.” The agreement, announced July 15 by the Nicaraguan Bishops Conference, added that the priests “will not invoke or use their condition as priests to help or justify state or party functions and actions.” The bishops stressed the non-partisan role of the priesthood. The announcement came at the end of three days of meetings between the seven-member bishops’ conference and the four priests involved, Maryknoll Father Miguel D’Escoto, Jesuit Father Fernando Cardenal, and diocesan Fathers Edgar Parrales and Ernesto Cardenal. The arrangement is expected to ease tensions between the Sandinista-led government and the hierarchy and was accompanied by the establishment of a joint church-state commission to deal with issues of mutual concern. Both moves, according to observers, are welcomed in a country that faces difficulties in recuperating from the two-year civil war that toppled the Somoza dynasty in July 1979. A conference announcement said the meeting dealt with the alternatives of whether the priests should continue in their government and political posts or devote themselves to the priestly ministry. The four, like many other priests, Religious and lay people, joined in the efforts to end the Somoza dictatorship. Father D’Escoto became foreign minister and Father Parrales minister of welfare. Father Ernesto Cardenal heads the ministry of culture and his brother, Father Fernando Cardenal, is coordinator of the Sandinista Youth Movement. “The priests explained their conviction that their presence in the government is still needed. At the same time, however, they voiced their wish to remain faithful to the norms of the church. So they proposed a formula of exception (to those rules) so they could continue discharging their present government duties,” the conference announcement said. “The priests further stated these points: they want to keep their identity of faith in communion with the bishops, they recognize that harming the church is tantamount to harming the people in their demands and needs for liberation and total development,” it added. (Continued on page 6) NCCB Contacted White House On Supreme Court Nominee War Orphans Find Home In El Salvador BY DIANA PAGE ZARAGOZA, El Salvador (NC) - There were nearly 200 children playing in the courtyard behind the old chapel - smudge-faced boys and thin girls mothering the toddlers. They were dressed in clothing ranging from a faded Girl Scout uniform to a designer-label T-shirt that had known better days. Some of the children’s heads had been shaved, giving them a prison-camp look. But the shaving was to remove lice. The appearance of a stranger in the yard attracted a dozen children, competing with their best smiles, reaching out to be touched, saying with their eyes, “Please notice me, let me be the one who is special.” Not all the children tried for recognition. One sat against the wall, rhythmically beating his forehead with his little fist. Other children stayed quietly around the young man who tried to coax chords from an untuned guitar. Others molded mud under the trees near the laundry. Each of these children ended up in Zaragoza under the care of Father Ken Myers, a missionary from the Cleveland Diocese, after finding their way out of the battle zones of El Salvador into camps for displaced persons. Church Cluster Works On Jobs For Teens In Grady Homes Area BY SISTER LINDA MASER, C.S.J. The Grady Homes Area Cluster, composed of the congregations of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Big Bethel AME Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Liberty Baptist Church, Quaker House and Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and of the residents of Grady Homes and Wheat Street Gardens, was organized in May 1981 by the Help the Children Project. Its main purpose is to assess the needs of the two housing projects and try to respond to these as fully as possible. Although the short term goals of the cluster focus on strengthening programs for the children and teens in the area this summer, its long range goals are to continue in the future. The steering committee meets on a weekly basis and is composed of the above mentioned Churches and residents of the housing projects. Officers of the steering committee are Reverend McKinley Young (Big Bethel AME Church), chairperson, Dr. Joe Sandifer (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church), vice-chairperson, Sister Linda Maser, C.S.J. (Our Lady of Lourdes), Secretary, Mr. Alan Zubay (Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church), treasurer, and Mrs. Vivian White (Grady Homes), business manager. It was realized in the early meetings that Grady Homes already had existing a Girls Club (50 Members) and a Boys Club (130 Members) that served the needs of the children and parents in the area. Therefore the committee worked on strengthening these two programs. It requested funds for additional staff persons for each of the clubs from the Help the Children Project and organized volunteers from the various congregations to supplement the programs. After consultation with the directors of the Boys Club and Girls Club who also serve on the steering committee, it was decided to create a Tuesday Day Camp experience for the members of the Girls Club to be held at Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tucker and asked for volunteers from the churches to serve as counselors. Marie Josey and Sister Linda Maser from Our Lady of Lourdes have been actively involved in this program. Members of the various congregations are asked to provide lunch on a rotating basis. A major concern of residents of both Grady Homes and Wheat Street Gardens is teen employment. To meet this need the Summer Employment Company was formed. Mr. Fred Benbow (Big Bethel AME Church), Mr. Ernest Freeman (Liberty Baptist Church) and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Church serve as officers of this company. Its purpose is to sell stock in the Summer Employment Company to members of the various church congregations and the housing projects in order to raise money to pay teens for work they will do in their respective housing projects, e.g. grass cutting and light maintenance. A farmers market run by teens is a future goal. The needs of Wheat Street Gardens proved to be more complex. Main requests of the residents are: (1) jobs for the teens; (2) a recreation program for 3-5 year olds; (3) a recreation program for 6-18 year olds; and (4) classes for parents including home hygiene, parenting skills and budgeting. At present there are three rooms which are available for use but one which could serve as recreation area has been abandoned and therefore is in serious disrepair. Hopefully this will be restored with the help of teens in the Summer Employment Company. The committee is also seeking the aid of a YMCA mobile unit which will be used in part to help train persons to operate a recreation program so that this program will continue. Classes for parents are being planned for the fall. There is much work to be done in both of these housing projects. The churches and the residents of the housing projects plan to work together beyond summer 1981 to combat some of the problems of the area. Because of the fighting and the burden this is putting on the country, no one has time to keep statistics on orphans. Too often there is no way of knowing who is an orphan, or whether the family of a child who has been lost or abandoned will return to claim him. According to church estimates, 22,000 non-combatants have been killed in the past 18 months and about 135,000 families have fled their homes. Red Cross ambulances will bring children found alone in the combat zones into the capital of San Salvador and turn them over to volunteer organizations, but no one at the Red Cross headquarters could find any records of how many children had been found or where they were. The government already had 15 orphanages and churches had six other homes for children when Father Myers began giving a home about nine months ago to youngsters displaced by the war. Father Myer’s center concentrates on children needing special medical attention. The thin, white-haired missionary has been a parish priest in Zaragoza, a village 15 miles into the hills southwest of San Salvador, for seven years. Last September he brought home one child, then 10 orphans whose mothers had been killed. Then he made room for 55. By the end of June, there were 190 children. When 30 triple-layer bunk beds are completed by a carpenter, room for more children will be available. “A medical student volunteered to help me here, so I thought we could specialize in health care, bringing in those children who needed special medical attention,” Father Myers said. “When they have hidden out in the hills, in the rain, without food, they come into refugee camps in bad condition.” The most common problems are eye and skin infections, but last fall, measles and chicken pox hit the camp. The medical student, who had completed two years of studies before the university was closed by the government last year, feels he has learned much more from his practical experience at Zaragoza than he would have in the classroom during the same time period. The children range from infants to 12-year-olds. Four infants were born in Zaragoza to mothers who help care for the orphans. The women also were displaced by the war. Twenty-eight mothers displaced by the fighting live and work at the Zaragoza center. Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay woman Jean Donovan, two of the four U.S. women missionaries murdered last December on the road to the San (Continued on page 6) BY LIZ SCHEVTCHUK WASHINGTON (NC) - The National Conference of Catholic Bishops contacted the White House to express concern about the nomination of Judge Sandra O’Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul-Minneapolis, NCCB president. In his regular column, Peace, in the Catholic Bulletin, newspaper of Archbishop Roach’s archdiocese, he said, “The National Conference of Catholic Bishops made direct and lengthy approaches to President Reagan when it became clear that Judge O’Connor was a serious candidate for nomination and when we found that her record in Arizona on the pro-life issue was questionable.” Archbishop Roach did not elaborate and could not be reached for comment. In Washington, Bishop Thomas C. Kelly, general secretary of the NCCB, said he could not discuss the conference’s overtures to the Reagan administration. “Our approaches were really private,” he said. “A lot of the communication has to remain private.” Bishop Kelly said, “The White House defended its own position on the nomination of Judge O’Connor,” who has been attacked by pro-life groups for what they describe as a pro-abortion voting record while a member of the Arizona Senate in the 1970s. President Reagan has expressed satisfaction with her views on abortion, which have not been explained in any detail. Archbishop Roach’s Column, Page 4 In his column, Archbishop Roach said, “The president has assured us and the nation that he has determined that her position on abortion is not incompatible with his own or with the Republican platform” (plank opposing abortion). He said it is wise to have time to adequately investigate Mrs. O’Connor’s record before the appointment might be finalized. Arizona state records do not show how Mrs. O’Connor voted on a number of bills involving the abortion issue. The record does show that she once voted against a rider, attached to a bond bill, which forbade abortions at the University of Arizona. (Supporters said she opposed the rider because it was not germane to the original bill.) But she also supported a measure allowing doctors and medical personnel to refuse to perform abortions. And no records were kept of voting on various other bills. She (Continued on page 6) A Day Of Prayer For The Lebanese WASHINGTON (NC) - Catholic dioceses and parishes in the United States have been asked to observe Sunday, Aug. 2, as a day of prayer for peace in Lebanon. Monsignor John F. McDonough, vicar general, has asked all pastors and parishes in the Archdiocese of Atlanta to join in this day of prayer. The observance was proposed by Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul-Minneapolis, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a letter to the U.S. bishops. Archbishop Roach said the day of prayer was suggested by Archbishop Joseph Tawil of the Melkite-Rite Eparchy of Newton, Mass, and Bishop Francis M. Zayek of the Maronite-Rite Diocese of St. Maron of Brooklyn. “GRATEFUL, HARDWORKING, LOVING” Cambodian Family Reunited In College Park BYTHEA JARVIS Two years ago, three young Cambodian sisters lost their parents in the conflict that was ravaging their homeland. As a result, Seyhavy, Sokunthea and Sochinda Tey were taken to three different refugee camps and remained separated until all had CAMBODIAN REFUGEES REUNITED - Seyhavey, Sokunthea and Sochinda Tey are reunited, along with grandmother Phy Kem and her great-grandchild, in College Park. The young Cambodian sisters were separated when their parents were killed two years ago. b made their way safely to the United States. This past June, a family reunion took place in College Park, Georgia for the three sisters and their grandmother, Phy Kem, who had not seen her grandchildren for seven years. Only through the assistance of generous individuals who open their hearts to refugee families can such happy endings occur. “If more people understood the plight of the refugee, they would respond to a people who are seeking nothing but the opportunity to work, the opportunity for education, the opportunity to know God and his word, and the opportunity to establish fellowship,” said Jill Growney of Saint Matthew’s Church in Fairburn. Mrs. Growney has been personally involved with arriving refugees, teaching English to the children of three refugee families for the past year. “I can say nothing but that they are grateful, hardworking, loving people,” observed Mrs. Growney. “Most of the children cannot read their own language, although they can speak it, because they were not allowed to go to school when the Communists took over,” Mrs. Growney explained. “Conditions there were a matter of survival. When there was not enough food, as nine-year-old Ket told me, ‘they die because they do not have food.’” At Catholic Social Services, Ngeth Kang works with refugee resettlement and is heartened by the record of Cambodians successfully settled in the United States. “The Cambodian people want to work. They want jobs. They just want a chance for a new way of life where there is an opportunity to work, an opportunity for education and freedom to practice religion and learn the Bible.” For now, basic needs -- clothing, dishes, utensils, household goods - are necessary for refugee families establishing themselves in our country. In addition, according to Jill Growney, sponsors willing to help refugees find employment, learn the English language, become familiar with shopping options and local churches are needed. “Funds from the United Way and the World Relief Agency help defray initial housing costs, but most Cambodians find jobs within a short time,” she continued, stressing that volunteers are most welcome in any area of resettlement and that such volunteers need not be full sponsors in order to give assistance. To learn more about refugee resettlement, call Catholic Social Services (881-6571, ext. 19) t