Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—The Georgia Bulletin, September 1,1983
CALL FOR AMNESTY - Border
patrol agents Steve Shields, left,
and Ed Pyeatt escort five illegal
aliens to the Chula Vista, Calif.,
holding center near the Mexican
border. Legalization for illegal
aliens is at the heart of the
immigration reform bill before
Congress, U.S. bishops’
representatives say, and the U.S.
Catholic Conference may oppose
the legislation if the amnesty
provisions are weakened. (NC Photo)
Sandinista Government
Central America
(Continued from page 1)
people are held by force
and fear. You have the
Neighborhood Committee
that spies and reports.
There is alot of fear. Live
there and you will see.”
But wasn’t Somoza and
his dictatorial regime just
as bad? “Somoza was an
evil midget and we
welcomed a revolution to
rid ourselves of him,” said
Juan. ‘‘But the
Sandinistas, which were
welcomed by the people,
have turned out to be a
perverse giant. And the
people are beginning to
say so. They are saying
‘this is not our revolution.’
The change was needed
but the Sandinista
government was a change
from bad to worse.”
Economically, is day to
day living better under the
Sandinistas? “See these
jeans,” said Juan. “I
bought them here. You
cannot get them in
Nicaragua. You stand in
line for everything. Food
is very short. Each family
gets only two pounds of
rice and beans each week.
Farmers are reluctant to
work the land. They are
not compensated. All of
Somoza’s holdings were
seized. Land was promised
to the poor. None has
been given. Recreational
facilities have become
military installments. It is
impossible to get visas to
leave but many are fleeing
illegally. Life has become
impossible.”
Juan and Maria claim to
be very dedicated to the
Church and looked
forward to the visit to
Pope John Paul to
Nicaragua in 1983. “But
again the Sandinistas tried
to spoil that visit. Mobs
are allowed to roam freely
and cause mini
persecutions to people at
will. These mobs
persecuted pilgrims who
attempted to see the Pope
during his stay. It was sad.
Many wanted to see the
Pope and never did.”
According to Juan, a
division is taking place in
the ranks of the clergy.
Some are for the new
government; others are
against it. ‘‘The
government is taking
advantage of the division
in this way.” says Juan.
“A ‘popular church’ has
been formed. So far it is
not strong and has been
condemned by the Vatican
and the bishops. But even
that should tell you what
the revolution has
become.”
“But it is not just the
government of the
Sandinistas that we need
to fear,” says Juan. “Every
where there is the presence
of the Soviets. All our
military stuff seems to be
Russian. Our trucks are
Russian, so are our
tractors. It also seems that
under the supervision of
the Soviets a new canal is
being dug across
Nicaragua. We certainly do
not like that presence in
our country.”
Both Juan and Maria
will return to Nicaragua
soon. They still hope that
somehow the revolution,
now four years old, will
fulfill its original promise,
but they are not
optimistic. “For 45 years
we have searched for
better things for
Nicaraguans. So far they
have not happened.”
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Reasonable Prices
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(Continued from page 1)
because that action is
especially useful or
symbolic, but to relieve an
internal anquish or guilt
feelings.
1 do not plead for
endless and sterile analysis,
but I certainly do plead
for a nuanced appreciation
of the goals, methods and
self-defense of various
actors in the Central
American scene:
revolutionary movements,
revolutionary govern-
ments, the U.S.
government and the
Catholic Church.
1. Marxist-inspired
revolutionary movements
reflect the thinking of
Lenin and Mao that
revolutions must come
from the grassroots, from
the “workers” or from the
“peasants.” According to
them, these groups have to
be lead into the revolution
by intellectuals, especially
by THE party. To involve
the peasants (campesinos)
and the (industrial)
workers it is necessary to
heighten their awareness
of injustice. This is
achieved by violence
during strikes and by
campaigns of terrorism
that provoke very strong
reprisals, massive arrests,
torture, hit-squads and
disappearances on the part
of governments that
perceive themselves as
being under siege and
forced to use ultimate
means of self-defense.
In Latin America, these
revolutionary movements
tend to be a mixture of
Marxists and other
idealists. These latter are
usually Christians who see
clearly enough the
injustices of the present
system, but do not have a
blueprint of what should
replace the corrupt
government.
2 . Revolutionary
governments come into
being after a bloody
struggle lasting several
years. People are glad to
see the fighting over and
rightly say that the present
order and stability are
better than what
immediately preceded it.
In Latin America, a
Marxist-inspired revolution
will not try to surpress the
Church, for that would
produce a popular
reaction. But books used
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in schools (sooner or later
always controlled by the
government) will teach
‘‘scientific materialism”
and believers will not be
on the same footing as a
party member or a
non-believer, because they
will follow an ideology
other than that of the
revolution.
3. The U.S., while not
ideologically materialist, is
p r agmatically materialist.
Whatever works well is
good. There are principles,
very good ones, but there
is no one all-embracing
ideology that knits them
together. It is a pluralistic
society.
As regards Latin
America, the U.S. sees
several unstable
governments, some
repressive in their efforts
to curtail internal
opposition and unrest.
There are treaties binding
the U.S. to go to the aid of
sister nations if these are
attacked by foreigners, a
category into which the
U.S. government wants to
put ‘‘freedom fighters”
when they are supplied
from abroad and coached
by outside military-
advisers.
Ultimately, the only
feasible solution is to get
dialogue going among the
parties to the national and
regional conflicts. If the
U.S. is a party to those
dialogues, it had better be
very careful — Marxists
have an ideology, but the
U.S. does not seem to have
its Latin American
“policy” put together.
May God preserve us from
another Vietnam-style
“solution.” If the U.S.
uses heavy-handed tactics,
it will provoke an
outpouring of resentment
and antipathy from
Central and South
America, and the
revolutionary forces
throughout the area will
take on new life against
the “Yankee imperialists.”
4. Lastly is the Catholic
Church. She had a special
place in the life of the
Spanish and Portuguese
colonies as she had in the
mother countries. The
colonists were almost all
Catholics and the dividing
line between Church and
State was hard to
distinguish at times. High
churchmen were almost
entirely from the mother
country. As time went on,
those of mixed ancestry
were also chosen as
bishops. Those of purely
indigenous ancestry did
not make up a sizeable
proportion of the Latin
American clergy.
Even though it was
practiced in the past, not
without problems,
ecclesiastics in government
posts today too easily
compromise the leadership
of the Church.
“Reactionary” bishops
who helped sustain
corrupt righwing dictators
in the past and
“progressive” priests who
give their support to
Marxist comandantes in
the present are both
examples. Church
leadership is co-opted
when ecclesiastics are too
closely identified with the
government. Such
churchmen lose their
ability to stand against
abuses of human rights,
religious freedom, political
participation and
economic justice. They
dreamily assume that
almost all threats to peace
and justice are from
outsiders and so there is
no need for internal
criticism. The Church’s
best service to its members
and the nation as a whole
is thereby emasculated.
On his recent visit to
Central America, Pope
John Paul, who is no
novice in matters of
church survival under
Marxist regimes,
continually called for a
united church as the only
way to fulfill its crucial
mission today. He called
for Catholics to remain
united with their leaders,
the priests with their
bishops (and thus avoid a.
“people’s” church) and
the bishops with the pope.
In Nicaragua, he said,
“No Christian, especially
those with titles signifying
a special consecration in
the Church, should
become responsible for
breaking this unity, acting
outside of or against the
will of the bishops.”
Incredibly, there are
priests who dismiss such
weighty teachings as
coming from a pope who
is out of touch with the
reality of revolutionary
movements and
governments, not only in
Latin America, but in Asia
and Africa too.
Now about that tube
that focuses our attention
on only one facet of a
complex problem: use it
for details but not for
judgments. The problem is
very complex, not simple.
Let foreigners beware of
seeing clearly a problem
and its solution after a
one-week fact-finding visit.
The Church leadership
should not back
wholeheartedly ANY
government of the left, or
the right or of the center;
otherwise it becomes
co-opted and cannot fulfill
its best service in defense
of human rights, religious
freedom, political
participation and
economic justice. The
members of the Church
need and want to hear
preached the Gospel and
the social doctrine of the
Church, not a political
ideology - certainly not of
the Marxist or of the
capitalist extremes, nor of
another based on some
strange marriage between
the supposed best of both
systems.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION WRITE
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405 E. Seventh St.
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480 ARMOUR CIRCLE N.E.
ATLANTA, GA 30324
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