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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1987)
The Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 25 No. 43 Thursday, December 3, 1987 $12.00 Per Year Settling Oakdale Siege Gave Bishop Roman "Moment Of Peace" BY STEPHENIE OVERMAN WASHINGTON (NC) — For Auxiliary Bishop Agustin A. Roman of Miami, settling the siege of the detention center at Oakdale, La., was a “moment of peace.” Cuban detainees took hostages at the center and in the Atlanta federal prison after hearing that the United States and Cuba had resumed an agreement that could have meant their deportation. But after a videotaped message from Bishop Roman, who was forced into exile from Cuba in 1961, the Oakdale de tainees reached an agreement with the government Nov. 29 and released the 26 hostages they had been holding for eight days. According to a translation of his message Bishop Roman said, “This is a moment of peace. It is a day which must be a beginning for you. This is what I desire. I want you to release the prisoners who are in your custody and I want you to demonstrate to the world the good will that every Christian should have in his heart.” Their Apostolate Is To Detainees BY PAULA DAY The story of Cuban detainees holding hostages in the Atlanta Federal Peniten tiary has several levels — international, political, human — the anxiety of the hostages' families; the Cubans’ desperation that finally erupted. For two women from St. Philip Benizi parish in Jonesboro, the situation has deep spiritual implications. ■ “They are our brothers in Christ,” Lily Delgado says. Mrs. Delgado and Mercy Pinacas are naturalized American citizens who escaped . from Castro’s communist suppression; Mrs. . Delgado in 1962, Mrs. Pinacas in 1970. They . are educated women. One is a physician’s wife, the other the wife of an Atlanta businessman. Their children attend local schools. For a year the two women have visited ' and prayed with the Cuban detainees at the Atlanta facility each Wednesday evening. They have listened to the Cubans’ personal histories, brought them tid-bits of news from “the outside.” They have helped organize Levadura, translated ‘leaven,’ ggg formed to help the Cubans “grow spiritually and as human beings” Lily Delgado said. Mrs. Delgado, 45, moved with her hus- band, son and daughter to Atlanta from ■ ' Miami 16 months ago. In Miami she had ’ '■ been involved in the Hispanic Pastoral En- counter from which came the plan for each (Continued on page 6) '1 He said he had reviewed the agreement with the govern ment “and I can tell you there is nothing missing in it.” “Sign the document,” the bishop said. “You can be sure that what you will have done is good.” In its agreement with the Cubans the government said it will not rescind parole decisions it had already made for Cuban detainees with families or sponsors in the United States. It also agreed to give individual hearings to the de tainees. The Oakdale agreement had no immediate effect on Cuban detainees in Atlanta but Jesuit Father Edward Salazar, who has conducted prayer vigils outside the prison, said Nov. 30 that the Cubans there had been asking for Bishop Roman. “I’ve heard from the Cubans themselves that they wanted Bishop Roman,” he said. “The situation at Oakdale should not be misread — there’s still a long way to go — but there’s hope (in Atlanta) because of what the church has been able to do.” (Continued on page 7) Advent Story Convert Traces Path To Church BY RITA McINERNEY She didn’t realize it but Thelma Donahue waited many years for God, perhaps since the first time she heard His name mentioned. “I was maybe 10 years-old the first time I heard the word God. It was a shock to me when another child said that you’re supposed to love God more than your parents. I didn’t know who this person was. I remember how outraged I was.” She and her husband Pat now live in Dunwoody. Her childhood was spent on a farm in Kentucky with her parents, brothers and sisters. For them, “Christmas was Santa Claus and toys, nothing religious at all.” “Sometime later,” after first hearing the name of God, “a neighbor began taking me to Sunday school and my g: mother began going to the Methodist church. Then when I g. was about 14, I was ‘sprinkled’ in the Methodist church. I g remember that as quite a happening. Still there was no ^ followup.” § As a young girl working in Louisville, she met a young z woman who took her to the Church of God. “I realize now that all these encounters were searching. All of my life I was searching for something. There was this void inside. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I believe all of my life God has been calling me. In the fundamentalist churches I had been on the edges but there was no meeting Him in en counter until my Cursillo experience.” She made her Cursillo weekend about a year after the Donahues moved to Atlanta from Westchester County, N.Y. It was “a very powerful experience. I really believe God spoke to me during that weekend. I look at my faith journey as having begun then.” Two years later, to her great joy and the joy of her friends in the Cursillo, she entered the church as an Easter Catholic (Continued on page 8) "Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us Your salvation." Psalm 85 Second Sunday Of Advent
