Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8—The Georgia Bulletin, August 18,1983
Lourdes—
(Continued from page 1)
have improved.”
The pope was visiting France at the invitation of church
officials and not as a head of state.
Pope John Paul said the trip, postponed by more than
two years because of the May 13, 1981, attempt on his
life, allowed him to “fulfill a desire that has been very
dear to me for years: a desire that many Christians long to
fulfill in their lifetime, and even more so for a pope.”
Pope John Paul, making his 19th visit outside Italy
since his election to the papacy in October 1978, became
the first pontiff to travel during his pontificate to
Lourdes, one of the most popular and widely known of all
the world’s Marian shrines.
As had his six papal predecessors, Pope John Paul had
visited Lourdes before being elected to the papacy.
In his first talk upon arrival in France, Pope John Paul
called Lourdes “a gathering place for all those in the
world who believe in the Gospel, for all those who pray,
for all those who suffer, for all those who seek forgiveness
for their sins, for all those who yearn to rediscover in the
church the roots of their communion in faith and
charity.”
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Mary’s
appearances in Lourdes and the 50th anniversary of the
canonization of St. Bernadette, the local girl to whom she
appeared.
In 1858, at the Grotto of Massabielle near the town,
Mary appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, then 14
years old.
When the girl asked the woman to identify herself
during the last appearance, the apparition said: “I am the
Immaculate Conception.”
Mary directed Bernadette to dig in the dry ground, and
a spring arose that no one had seen before. Since then,
millions have bathed in its waters, which many consider
miraculous.
Pope John Paul’s first stop after reaching the Marian
shrine was at the Grotto of Massabielle, where he drank a
glass of the spring water.
“It seems to me that there is a special grace here in
Lourdes,” he said. “It is an exceptional place of grace.”
About 100,000 people greeted Pope John Paul at the
grotto, with part of the crowd spilling over into the
nearby meadow.
In his final talk of the day, the pope said the prayers at
Lourdes should be for the intentions of “the whole world
ahd the whole church.”
“Let them have a place in our prayer, these men and
women throughout the universe who are suffering from
hunger or other scourges, from the devastation of war,
from the displacement of populations; those who are the
victims of political and other forms of terrorism,” he said.
The pope also asked prayers for the victims of hatred,
oppression and injustices such as being “kidnapped,
confined illegially, tortured, condemned with no guarantee
of justice.”
“May the attitude of leaders change, and may the
victims receive comfort and courage,” he added.
Prejudice Looms Large In Small Town
BY CHRIS VALLEY
It began with a visit to Cedartown in the fall of
1982 to inform Hispanics in the area of help
available through Catholic Social Services. Sister
Barbara Harrington and Father Bill Hoffman of
the Hispanic Apostolate were invited by the late
Father Vincent Mulvin to meet with local
Hispanics at St. Bernadette’S Church. Sister
Barbara provided information to residents about
immigration laws and procedures.
Several months later, one of the people Sister
Barbara met during that visit telephoned her. An
Hispanic young man in the area had been shot...
killed. The caller asked for sister’s help.
Immediately Sister Barbara contacted the
American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU Executive
Director Gene Guerrero called attorney Don
Samuels to accompany himself, Sister Barbara and
Catholic Social Services staff member, Doris
Squires, to Cedartown to investigate.
This was not the first killing of an Hispanic in
the Cedartown area. On September 2, 1980,
Ramiro Lopez, a Mexican, was shot to death in the
presence of four witnesses. Three of the witnesses
were Mexican nationals like Lopez. A few days
before the trial, the Mexican witnesses fled
Cedartown after what was described by two
reporters in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as
“what appears to have been a deliberate effort to
harass and terrorize them in order to force them
out of the area.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
November 29, 1981). The accused was tried and
found not guilty.
Friction between Hispanics and non-Hispanics
in the Cedartown area has heightened since the
Lopez murder. In November 1980, the New Order
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in the
area to protest the hiring of alleged illegal aliens by
a local company. In July 1981, the KKK began
picketing a food processing plant in Cedartown to
protest the hiring of Cuban refugees.
Then, on April 14, 1983, Casuano Zamudio, a
Mexican, was shot to death just south of
Cedartown. Zamudio had a work permit and was
petitioning for U.S. citizenship. He left a
23-year-old widow, who is living in the Cedartown
area.
It was this slaying which prompted the phone
call to Sister Barbara. “When we visited the
community, we were concerned about the safety
of the witnesses,” said Sister Barbara. “We talked
to the witnesses, assuring them that being
witnesses would not jeopardize their immigration
status. They need not be concerned about
deportation. The attorneys explained American
judicial procedures.”
Over the past several months, a series of
incidents of harassment of witnesses has occurrred,
according to Sister Barbara. “There is some
skepticism (on the part of Cedartown Hispanics)
about law enforcement in the area,” she said.
A letter prepared by the ACLU office in Atlanta
on behalf of itself, the League of United Latin
American Citizens, and National Image, Inc., was
sent to U.S. Attorney General William French
Smith on June 15, 1983, asking for a full
investigation into the violence and threats of
violence against Hispanics in the Cedartown area.
The letter details some of the alleged incidents of
harassment.
Sister Barbara keeps in contact with Hispanic
families in the area to make sure the witnesses
remain safe. “My role is monitoring the situation,
“linking the local community with outside help,
and serving as a channel of communication
between different groups and individuals,” she
said.
“There has been concern on the part of many in
the Cedartown area, not just Hispanics,” Sister
Barbara notes. “Many in the area want to solve
this problem (of violence and intimidation). The
(non-Hispanic) Catholic community has been
helpful in getting Hispanics together and in
showing supportive attitudes.”
Sister Barbara comments, “The greatest obstacle
is the fear of some to get involved.”
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