PAGE 4 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 26,1987
STATEMENT
No One Listened The Week ln Review
As this edition of the newspaper is printed, a
stalemate exists at the Atlanta federal peniten
tiary between desperate Cuban detainees inside
the walls and authorities attempting to negotiate
an end to the three-day long siege.
To seasoned people who have struggled with
the complex difficulties of these Cubans, and
who have done more than speak about it—who
have gone inside the prison frequently to do
what they can to encourage—the frustration and
fear that erupted Monday is not a surprise. They
are close enough to the detainees, and familiar
enough with Cuba’s history, to grasp the utter
hopelessness a detainee would experience upon
being told he might be sent back to Cuba after
years in an American prison.
This desperation and hopelessness does not
justify violence; the 90 or more people being held
hostage inside, the guards, teachers, doctors,
chaplains, and other staff, are victims also.
But to those with a basic familiarity with the
human drama of the Cuban detainees, the des
perate act is not a surprise. Their plight has
been written about before; it has been brought to
government offices in Washington, D.C. by con-
Sister With Baby Weade In Liberia.
(. ailioln \ivWikHvso ot
(USPS) 574880
Business Office U S A $12 00
680 West Peachtree. N.W. Canada $12 50
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Foreign $ 14 00
Phone 888-7832
Published By The Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Gretchen R. Keiser Editor
Rita Mclnerney Associate Editor
DEADLINE: All material for publication must be received by
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cemed people who took it upon themselves to
protest the desperate straits of detainees who
had no idea when, if ever, they would have
freedom in this country. Their legal status has
been debated for years in federal court in Atlan
ta.
For years immigration officials have protested
that they were being unfairly criticized, that they
were doing as much as they could with a difficult
situation. However, it is impossible to look upon
last week’s bald public announcement that
thousands of detainees would be shipped back
to Cuba as anything but grossly callous to the
detainees and spoken by people who had no
knowledge of them as people. How else can one
explain the shock in Washington when these
desperate men all over the country exploded in
revolt? After five years, no one in authority has
listened.
A ray of hope emerged Tuesday night when
people who know both hostages and detainees
went down to pray outside the prison. A change,
a calm was palpable, according to observers. For
Catholics, whose brothers and sisters are so
clearly on every side of this difficulty, it is critical
to pray for the miraculous change of heart that
will resolve this impasse and to be sorrowful for
the blindness that led to this crisis occurring.
--GRK
RESOUND
THANKSGIVING LETTER
(The following letter came from a mission in Liberia
where Sister M. Sponsa Beltran works and whose clinic is
stocked and supplied through the help of people in the arch
diocese of Atlanta. Sister Sponsa asked that the letter be
printed in thanks for those many donations.)
To the Editor:
No it is not a doll...it is a real live three-month-old baby
who thanks each and everyone of you good people in the
Archdiocese of Atlanta who helped her survive her first
three months. Weade and Sister Sponsa Beltran come to
you at this great time of Thanksgiving to express our
sincerest gratitude for all the little babies you have helped
get a good start in life.
Little Weade was born three months ago weighing all of
two and a half pounds. The odds were against her from the
start. The day after she was born her mother died from
complications of childbirth. An aunt who never could have
any children took charge of the infant. Living in the bush
the aunt was not familiar with milk so essential in the diet
of the infant so she fed Weade water and herb teas. Two
weeks after the birth this diet took its toll and the aunt came
to the clinic frantic. The baby was so weak and emaciated
that she could barely cry. She weighed only one and a half
pounds. The aunt’s pleading made us do something about
the situation. For weeks on end we fed her with an eye drop
per, then with a spoon and gradually a little glass. At first
her weight gains were not admirable. We found out that the
aunt watered down the milk so that it would last. When we
convinced her that as long as Weade made weight gains we
would supply the milk we saw a difference. In this picture
Weade is five and a half pounds and very alert. Yesterday
she was weighed in and weighed all of six and a half pounds.
Yes, Weade had a second chance at life only because you
all cared and shared so much. Without your loving gifts of
milk we could never have helped this and the hundreds of
other little babies that we have helped thus far. We are in
debted to your wonderfully kind hearts and on this
Thanksgiving Day come specially to say God bless each
and everyone of you a billion fold for your charity to us. All
we can offer in return will be our continued daily prayers
for all your intentions. Please pray for us too that we never
tire doing His work for His sick poor.
Sister M. Sponsa Beltran
Catholic Missions Sacred Heart Clinic
Box 25
Cape Palmas, Liberia, West Africa
PEOPLE AND PLACES — Retired Bishop Eduardo
Dalmau, former bishop of Cienfuegos, Cuba, died Nov. 19 in
Miami after a long illness. The 94-year-old prelate had been
in exile in south Florida since 1959, when he fled the Castro
regime. Known as a scholar, Bishop Dalmau wrote several
books on theology, social problems in Cuba, and a history of
his native country. He was named bishop of Cienfuegos in
1935 by Pope Pius XI. An outspoken critic of the Castro
regime, he was the first member of the hierarchy to leave
Cuba when Castro came to power. After coming to Miami
he was chaplain at St. Joseph’s Novitiate of the Sisters of St.
Joseph of St. Augustine in Jensen Beach. He also served as
chaplain at the Pennsylvania Retirement Hotel of the
Carmelite Sisters in West Palm Beach. He retired in 1965.
Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy of Miami was principal
celebrant of the funeral Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in
Miami on Nov. 23. A native of Havana he studied in
Barcelona, Spain, before entering the Congregation of the
Passion at age 15. He was ordained in 1915 in Rome and
taught theology, canon law and Scripture before returning
to Cuba in 1931.
*****
NATIONALLY — Georgetown University need not of
ficially recognize student homosexual organizations but
must provide them with services equal to those given other
student groups, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
ruled in a 5-2 decision Nov. 20. Jesuit Father Timothy S.
Healy, university president,in a statement after the ruling,
said that the appeals court had “directly addressed what
the university always felt to be the principal issue in the
case, its right to adhere to its religious heritage.” The court
decision capped a seven-year District of Columbia court
battle over university treatment of the student groups, the
Gay People of Georgetown and the Gay Rights Coalition of
the Georgetown University Law Center. Father Healy said
the ruling had confirmed a 1983 lower court ruling
“recognizing the university’s right to refuse to endorse
moral positions not in accord with its traditions.” Accord
ing to the latest ruling, the university must give the
homosexual groups the “tangible benefits” — such as the
right to apply for university funding — as any other student
group. But the opinion also said the law does not demand
that the university offer official recognition of the homosex
ual groups because that would violate constitutional rights.
Georgetown regards such recognition as a “’religiously
guided ...‘endorsement’ ” which it cannot provide, the opin
ion stated.
*****
INTERNATIONALLY - The Catholic bishops of
England and Wales have affirmed their “unanimous sup
port” for British legislation which would make abortion il
legal after 18 weeks of pregnancy. Currently, abortion in
Britain is legal through the 28th week of pregnancy. The
bishops describe the legislation as “a significant attempt to
defend the life of the child in the womb.” They said they
were not trying to impose Catholic teaching “by force of
law,” but were calling for protection of the unborn, “at
least from the time when all can surely recognize the
presence of individual human life.” In a statement issued
Nov. 19, the bishops also urged the British prime minister
and government to be sure that the bill was given due con
sideration in Parliament. It was introduced in October by
David Alton, a Catholic member, and is scheduled for sec
ond reading in January. “We recognize that our public
support of the Alton bill imposes obligations on us as a
church,” the bishops said. “We continue to pledge the
resources we have, and we expect public authorities to do
likewise, in support of expectant mothers under pressure
and in providing for ‘unwanted’ or handicapped children.”
Foes of the bill said that certain defects in the fetus can be
detected only after 18 weeks of pregnancy.
*****
HAITIAN BISHOPS have called for a “spiritual crusade”
of prayers for the violence-ridden nation in the week
preceding the country’s national elections. Their French-
language statement dated Nov. 12 called for services to be
held in a different diocese each day beginning Nov. 20,
culminating in a national day of prayer Nov. 27. The state
ment was published Nov. 22 in the Vatican newspaper
L’Osservatore Romano. The Nov. 29 elections for the
legislature and the presidency are the first since the over
throw of Jean-Claude Duvalier in February, 1986. The
bishops expressed concern over the “acts of violence in the
country” in recent months. “The Haitian people live in in
security,” they added. “Anxiety and uncertainty nearly
paralyze” the nation. The bishops asked all Haitians to
work to “exercise the threat of anarchy and bring back
peace.” The week before the elections, they said, should be
a time of adoration, penitence and prayer. They asked
Catholics to fast, attend daily Mass, recite the Rosary, pray
as a family and say the Angelus.
