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PAGE 2 - The Georgia Bulletin, December 20,1990
Catholic Editors Pick Gulf Crisis As Top 1990 Story
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic editors voted the
Persian Gulf crisis the top story of 1990 in the world of
religion.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and
taking of foreigners as hostages provoked a moral outcry
around the world. The U.S.-led buildup of an international
military force in Saudi Arabia led to wide debate about
when warfare is morally justified.
For top news personality of the year, the editors’ choice
was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his leadership in East-West
detente and in the democratic restructuring of communist
totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe.
It was the second year in a row that the editors placed
Gorbachev ahead of Pope John Paul n as newsmaker of
the year - a sign of the immense impact the Soviet leader’s
actions have had not only on global politics but on religious
life throughout Eastern Europe.
Second place among 1990 news stories was the rapid
revival of religious freedom in Eastern Europe and the
tensions that accompanied it. Editors had ranked it first in
1989, when the last six months saw the fall of virtually
every communist government in the Soviet bloc.
The poll is conducted among editors of U.S. and
Canadian Catholic newspapers every December by Catholic
News Service. Ballots were distributed Dec. 5 and the
deadline for returns was Dec. 14.
Editors were asked to vote for the 10 top news stories
from a list of 34 selected by CNS editors. They were asked
to select the five top newsmakers from a list of 20. Votes
were weighted by the ranking editors gave - 10 points for
top story, nine for second, etc., and five for top personality,
four for second, etc.
With 41 editors submitting ballots, the maximum a story
could receive on the 10-point scale was 410. The most a
newsmaker could receive on the five-point scale was 205.
Archbishop Eugene Marino, SSJ, was fifth (last) on this
list
Here are the results of the balloting for the top stories
of 1990, with total points received, followed by the number
of first-place votes in parentheses. Several first-place votes
were scattered among stories that did not make it to the
top 10.
1. The Persian Gulf crisis and the moral and political
issues it provoked: 282 (11 first-place votes).
2. The religious and political revival in the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe: 239 (9).
3. The Catholic priesthood, facing shortages and new
debates about celibacy; topic of the monthlong world Synod
of Bishops on priestly formation: 197 (6).
4. Abortion in the United States, a key question in
numerous religious, political, legislative and judicial issues
throughout the year: 189 (5).
5. Women in the church, with controversy about
women’s ordination and about the U.S. bishops’ proposed
pastoral on women: 159 (0).
6. The resignation of Archbishop Eugene A. Marino as
archbishop of Atlanta and revelations of his two-year affair
with Vicki Long: 131 (5).
7. The environment, emerging increasingly as an issue
of moral responsibility: 105 (0). •
8. Church finances, with deficits plaguing dioceses and
other church structures at virtually every level: 98 (0).
9. Covenant House reorganizes after its founder and
head, Conventual Franciscan Father Bruce Ritter, resigns *
amid allegations of sexual and financial improprieties: 87
(1).
10. Death and dying issues - medical, moral and legal*
- highlighted by Supreme Court decision that the state has
a right to keep comatose Nancy Beth Cruzan alive against
her parents’ wishes: 69 (0).
Coming in a close 11th, with 66 points, was the story*
of a new Vatican document on the role of theologians in
the church and various church controversies over theology
and theologians. It was a story that could have moved into .
the top 10 if voting had begun after Dec. 13, when more
than 400 U.S. and Canadian theologians approved a
statement criticizing the Vatican for acting in an allegedly
authoritarian fashion. •
Socialist Priest Leads Haitian Vote
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haiti (CNS) - A contro
versial Haitian priest ap
peared headed for a unique
spot in history as the first
Catholic cleric, at least in
modem times, to become
the chief executive of a
nation.
Although the vote count
was still incomplete as of
Dec. 17 following the Dec.
16 balloting, observers said
that Father Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, a socialist, had a
solid lead in the race.
Haitians also voted for a
national legislature and
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Supporters of Father
Aristide, expelled by the
Salesian order for his
political activities, poured
into the streets of Port-au-
Prince Dec. 17 to celebrate
victory.
But the priest’s moderate
main rival, former World
Bank official Marc Bazin,
demanded a recount of the
vote, which was marred by
delays and confusion.
The official Vatican
newspaper, L’Osservatore
Romano, on Dec. 17 re
ported on Father Aristide’s
election lead and quoted
from the Salesian statement
on his expulsion.
The order dropped him
two years ago, saying his
political activity was an
"incitement to hatred and
violence," partly because
he emphasized "class strug
gle." The Salesians also
accused him of desecrating
the Mass by seeming to put
the "Eucharist and the
sacraments at the service of
politics."
The Vatican has given
clerics permission to serve
in government posts in rare
circumstances where no
other qualified individuals
are available and the need
for talent is pressing. How
ever, it was by no means
certain that the situation in
Haiti was one of those
circumstances.
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The slight, 37-year-old
Father Aristide has
emerged as the champion
of the poor in a country*
where 80 percent of the 6.3
million citizens live below
the poverty level, fixed byi
the World Bank at $150 a
year. About 89 percent of
Haitians are Catholic.
Despite the celebrations,"
Bazin’s National Alliance
for Democracy and Prog
ress said it would ask the,
national electoral council to
declare the vote void in
Haiti’s most populous
district, the Western De-*
partment
"We are going to ask the
electoral council to declare^
the Western Department’
vote count void," Bazin
spokesman Claude Rou-
main told Reuters, the*
British news agency.
"There was no systematic
vote count. They counted
the votes last night in the*
middle of the street. It was
complete chaos.”
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