CORRESPONDENCE
CORRESPONDENCE Christian Socialism Bronx, N.Y. To the Editors: As a former member of the Jesuit Social Center in Santiago de Chile (I spent 12 years there), I wish to make three comments on Gary...
...Many Christian Democrats today-enjoying hindsight-regret that the party did not give Allende more support...
...In fact, Cardinal Silva has been a much better "reader of the signs of the times" than MacEoin indicates...
...3) Cardinal Raul Silva disagreed with the "Christians for Socialism" and with the policies of Mensaje under Al-lende's rule, but one cannot be blind to the pressures he faced from the Vatican, which would have preferred either a Conservative Catholic (Ales-sandri) or a Christian Democratic nominee (Tomic...
...In April 1972, Cardinal Silva rightly, rejected such a policy when he explained his non-attendance at the Christians for Socialism meeting as due to its character as "a political meeting aimed at invoking the Church in the struggle for Marxism and Marxist revolution in Latin America...
...Despite my admiration for Gonzalo Arroyo, S.J...
...MacEoin also criticizes the Frei Christian Democratic government (1964-70) because it was based on a coalition which "lacked a consistent ideology"-and there is no doubt as to which ideology he means-but he fails to discuss its substantial accomplishments...
...Cardinal Silva qualified his letter to the military junta when they took over-saying he hoped none of the achievements of previous regimes would be rolled back...
...History will judge who did more for "the poor and their liberation"-Chile's not-so-silent Church, the Christian Democratic "bourgeois ideology" based on "a set of abstract, a-historical ethical values such as democracy" and "a repudiation of violence," or those like MacEoin who claim to possess an "objective and scientific analysis" based on "the political praxis of the workers and their avant-garde...
...As an effort toward understanding the period discussed in Gary MacEoin's article, I wrote an article, "The...
...The coalition of parties in Allende's Popular Unity government nationalized, often by measures of questionable legality, over 500 companies and 36 percent of Chile's farmland-while virtually destroying the Chilean economy, polarizing its populace, and, because of the public commitment to violence of its more extreme members, helping to bring on the 1973 coup and its brutal aftermath...
...As a priest specialist in communications, I try to build bridges and think many must be erected among groups which do want to move away from the terrifying repressive scenarios around the world...
...People such as Greene want a clear ceiling on the acquisitive spirit and the Faust-ian rewards of market-type societies but they do not want it at any price...
...Through conservative, reformist, revolutionary, and reactionary regimes he has consistently spoken out for, and represented in action, basic moral and religious values without committing himself or the Church to any one of the contending ideological solutions to Chile's problems...
...To the Editors: It would seem that Gary MacEoin's principal criticism of "Chile's Silent Church" (July 18) is that it has not committed itself publicly to "The dialectical interpretation of events which underlay the stand of Christians for Socialism"-i.e., Marxism...
...This would be like America magazine saying in 1976 -if Wallace were an independent (Continued on page 510) CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 485) candidate-that Catholics could vote for a third party candidate...
...He and many others (I myself included) felt that Allende represented a valid cause, that he won fairly and should have been removed by the same constitutional process which elected him...
...Princeton, N.J...
...Rise and Fall of Salvador Allende," just published in the June issue of Thought, the Fordham University Quarterly...
...PAUL E. SIOMUND...
...Recent examples include the cardinal's continued support for the ecumenical Peace Committee's work for refugees and political prisoners (his earlier reference to the termination of its work was based on the unfulfilled hope that the human rights situation would improve), as well as repeated episcopal statements condemning the violation of human rights, calling for a return to constitutional government, and criticizing the military's control of education...
...Frei's non-coalition government achieved national control of the copper industry, a strong agrarian reform law, unionization and a minimum wage for agricultural workers, expansion of education and housing, and a balance of payments surplus of $343 million in 1970...
...When the fuller revelations of the period come to light, I think Cardinal Silva will emerge as an astute leader, highly progressive and interested in the Church, Chile and the people of Latin America...
...To the Editors: As a former member of the Jesuit Social Center in Santiago de Chile (I spent 12 years there), I wish to make three comments on Gary MacEoin's article, "Chile's Silent Church" [July 18]: (1) When Graham Greene, as a guest of the late President Salvador Allende, spoke to the Izquierda Cristi-ana, he identified himself as a man of the Christian Left, saying that he was looking for "socialism with a human face...
...The junta did not like this, since all other letters were enthusiastic in their support of the coup...
...The Christian Democrats believed that they would remain in power for many terms of office just as did the Unity Popular coalition of Allende...
...The "Christians for Socialism" never impressed me as being as willing to examine the historical record of socialism as it was to "unmask" the total human costs of capitalism...
...2) Any chronicle of the Church in Chile in the past decade must not overlook the work of the Christian Democrats and Eduardo Frei, who was called a Kerensky for raising the aspirations of the people...
...The late and courageous editor of the influential monthly, Men-saje, Hernan Larrain, S.J...
...helped to get Allende elected by his statement on TV and in a written editorial that it was unobjectionable for a Christian to vote for a Marxist...
...NEIL P. HURLEY, S.J...
...REV...
...As an admirer of Gary MacEoin in his journalistic efforts in the cause of liberation (also dear to me), I feel other facts and facets of Chilean Church history should be revealed to position the work of Cardinal Silva, Maryknoller Miguel d'Escoto, and Jesuits Roger Vekemans and Gonzalo Arroyo-all great men of the Latin American church with their honorable ideological differences...
...Gary MacEoin does not make it clear whether he agrees with the point he quotes and regards as important...
...Hernan Larrain never intended the magazine to be anti-capitalist...
...One need not be anti-capitalistic or Marxist to join in this search...
...and my long-standing friendship, I reject the statement that Marxism, implicit in the platform of "Christians for Socialism," is objective and scientific...
...Not all Christian Democrats were for the coup (e.g., Radomiro Tomic who lost to Allende...
...Wishing Gary MacEoin and Commonweal every blessing in their valuable journalistic efforts, I remain an ever grateful reader...
Vol. 102 • October 1975 • No. 16
