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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1987)
PAGE 14 — The Georgia Bulletin, February 19, 1987 Vatican ''Negotiates'' Religious Freedom For E. Europe BY JOHN THAVIS ( First in a two-part series) VATICAN CITY (NO —The election ofPopeJohn PaulII. the first pope from a Soviet-bloc country and a strong critic of Marxism, was expected by some to slow down the church’s dialogue with East European regimes. But nearly nine years later, Vatican officials say the policy of negotiation, or “Ostpolitik," is going strong, in part demonstrated by the pope's recent schedule. Since the beginning of the year, the pope has met with Cardinal 's Doctor Attacks U.S. Po licy In Nicaragua BY TRACY EARLY ferson understood the who has had his priestly need for “revolution and faculties suspended by NEW YORK (NC)-A an authentic Constitu- the Vatican. prominent Catholic tion," and Nicaragua Cahill wrote that he physician in the Arch- now has an ongoing had just returned from diocese of New York revolution and a new another visit spent "at|a said frequent working Constitution. field hospital in a wir visits to Nicaragua have "An apparent ig- zone and at a rehabilita- convinced him the norance of our own tion center in Managua United States is violat- history coupled with a examining scores of ing its Jeffersonian heri- cynical and arrogant legless victims of contra tage with attempts to abuse of false power — mines." overthrow the Nica- false because its founda- "I was seared by the raguan government. tion is nothing more than pain of groups of Dr. Kevin Cahill, per- shifting expediency — mothers whose sons had sonal physician to Car- has now tarnished our been mutilated and kill- dinal John J. O’Connor Jeffersonian image at ed by our own mercen- and his predecessor, the home as well as ary forces," he said. "I late Cardinal Terence abroad," he said. saw the effects of an Cooke, made the com- Cahill said that from American embargo; ments in an op-ed article his first visit to Nicara- surgery must be done Feb. 14 in The New York gua after a 1972 earth- and broken limbs set Times. quake until his latest trip without X-rays because Writing that he has his "spiritual guide" has of a belief in Washington made "many medical been Maryknoll Father that the Sandinista i trips to Nicaragua," Miguel D’Escoto, the government must be Cahill said Thomas Jef- current foreign minister overthrownatanycost. NHR MICK MOM* REPAIR, Plaster. Stucco. Painting Remodeling A Room Additions NICK Rock General Contractor Brick 18 yrs experience Block« BEEPER HOME Tl, * s 360-9950 934-6624 REAL ESTATE SALES AGENTS WANTED Join a progressive prestigious firm covering all of Metro-North! 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One Vatican official, who worked under Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul, said that "in essence, there has been no change. This pope is 100 percent for dialogue." Pope Paul’s special en voy to Eastern Europe was retained. Regular church- state meetings have con tinued — even in places like Czechoslovakia, where the regime has shown some hostility toward the Vatican and continued its repres sion of the local church. The results, as outlined by Vatican sources familiar with individual countries, have been most impressive in areas of hierarchy ap pointments, catechetics, travel and church publish ing. While they said sup pression of church rights has continued to some degree in all the countries, they cited several recent developments to illustrate the progress made under this pope: -SOVIET UNION: With government approval. Pope John Paul has made five important appoint ments in Lithuania's six dioceses, where most of the country's Catholics live. He also named the first car dinal in the Soviet Union, Bob Todd Gulf Service Gulf Tires Batteries Accessories AC Tune lip & Diagnostic Center Mechanic on Duty All Minor Repairs Lubrication Road Service Wheel Alignment Brake Work Tires Balanced Cars Washed 160 Ponce De Leon Ave. N.E. Atlanta, Ga. 30308 874-6310 874-9250 Cardinal Julijans Valvods, and appointed an eventual suc cessor for him in the Latvian See of Riga. Such appointments are considered essential to the church's future. In 1983, Soviet authorities allowed Lithuania's four apostolic administrators to make their first visit to the Vatican. Since then, bishops in the country have visited Rome regularly and attended the 1985 extraordinary synod. — HUNGARY: Under Pope John Paul, changes have in cluded lay extension courses in theology; religious instruc tion outside of state schools; a spiritual retreat house near Budapest; approval of a new women's religious order, church-run centers for the aged, blind and handicapped. Vatican officials cite the changes as examples of the 'small steps" policy of dialogue promoted by Cardinal Laszlo Lekai of Esztergom, who died last year. One important example, they said, was an agreement worked out with the state in 1984, allowing lay graduates of the theology extension program to run priestless parishes, performing the non-sacramental duties of a priest. Vatican and Hungarian authorities have held talks on Car dinal Lekai's replacement, but so far have not come to an agreement. Two other heads of dioceses died last year, and another two reached retirement age. Several observers said that when the pope fills these Sees, he will give a good indica tion of how he wishes church-state relations to proceed. — ROMANIA: Typically, for this pope, the breakthrough in Vatican-Romanian relations came in 1983 with the beatification of a Romanian monk. Shortly afterward, two diocesan administrators were named, and in 1984 Archbishop loan Robu was appointed apostolic ad ministrator of the Bucharest Archdiocese — a See that had been empty since 1954. The country's two seminaries are overflowing. The government, which has a limit on new vocations, "looks the other way" and allows much of the overflow to study for the priesthood in church-run music academies, according to a Vatican sources. Since 1985, about 12 Romanian priests have been allowed to study in Rome at pontifical universities. Pilgrim groups led by priests have been allowed to travel to Rome too. In 1985. West German Catholics presented the Romanian church with modern printing machinery which will be used to publish prayer books and other liturgical literature on a large scale. — EAST GERMANY: This year. East German authorities have, for the first time, allowed the church to organize a na tional Catholic congress, scheduled for Dresden in July. 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