NEWS & VIEWS
NEWS & VIEWS Siekle and Cross A,fascinatingturnin church-staterelationsin Eastern Europe is detected by The Economist of London:Communistgovernments ,wooing those whom they once...
...Itseemedasuspiciously Stalinist way to reject Stalinism...
...NEWS & VIEWS Siekle and Cross A,fascinatingturnin church-staterelationsin Eastern Europe is detected by The Economist of London:Communistgovernments ,wooing those whom they once fiercely oppressed...
...It was, before a few hundred curious spectators...
...Why this sudden concern for the churches on the part of the regimes...
...Thechurches,inother words,mustcontinueto make clear that they stand for something different from the governments...
...Chi||cn...
...The parents of the woman, co-defendants in the case, demanded that the body be exhumed...
...The Columbia lournalism Review, in its May-June issue, joshes the Fort Worth Tribune for its head.line, HE POUND GOD AT THEENDOF HISROPE...
...Theadvantagestothe churches in this new situation are obvious...
...The decision came after two days of debate at a party convention...
...These sentences were given "enthusiastic official publicity," a fact probably connected, in TheEconomist' sopinion, with reports thatHungary may be about to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican...
...Tlteat~" There werebizarre goings-onatthattrialin WestGermanyofthe twopriestschargedwith negligent homicidein the deat,hofa23-year-old woman who died of undernourishmentanddehydration after several months of exorcism[News & Views, 8/19/77...
...The fullchurchesin most of EasternEurope,compared with the empty ones almost everywhere in Western Europe, are no accident...
...De/~ini:ing Observers of Eurocommunism have noted, with some cynicism,themannerin whichCommunistparties have revised their belief in centralized,authoritarian control---~by unanimous vote...
...the ,worldwide recession has hitCommunistcountries quite hard, and growth has slowed...
...They range from a less harassed existence for believers to the possibility for the churches of filling with Christian ideas the moral vacuum of what The Economist sees as "the gradual decline of communist ideology...
...Fhe resulting disenchantment makes it desirable, says The Economist, for the regimes to get the help of the churches, since these command the loyalty of Eastern Europe's still large numbers of Christians...
...Also, The Economist adds, the regimes may be searching for a replacement for their policy of "consumerism...
...But let the cl~urch be wary, says The Economist...
...That attraction could fade, particularlyamong the young, if the churches now _mleaptoo expedientlyinto concordatswiththeEast Europe regimes...
...Communist politicians want to preventthechurches,the only remaining independent organizationsinEastern Europe, from becoming vehiclesoffuturedissident campaigns . . . Concessions to the churches could be an inducement to their leaders to keep the lid on...
...In Poland, government officials are holding out the possibilityofcooperation between the state and the Catholic Church in "mutual toleranceandrespect,for each other's principles...
...Taking Poland as an example, the journal cited the advantage to the regime of someoneelseotherthan partyapparatchiksurging the people to work harder and not be too impatient for the good material life...
...That,TheEconomist wraps up, might even serve as a useful lesson to churchmen in the West who fall prey to the temptatious of overpolitization, and end up rendering unto Caesar too much...
...The two priests and the parents wereconvicted andgivensuspended prison sentences...
...Anneliese, medical experts testified, suffered not from demons hut from epilepsy and the psychological effects of her fiercely religious upbringing...
...The trial proceeded...
...In any case, we note for the record that on A~ril 21 the Spanish Communist party decided no longer to call itself "Leninist...
...JOHNDEEDY 26 May 1978:322...
...This judgment might be tempered, of course, by observingmostvotesat American trade union conventiomorcorporation stockholder meetings...
...In one sense, they have done well out of the hard years under Communism since 1945...
...The vote was 928 to 248 with 40 abstentions...
...In Hungary, stiff sentences were meted out to a group of rowdies who disrupted a Catholic service...
...It's a political calculation rather tl~an a sudden conversion to liberal tolerance, says The Economist...
...In East Germany, it notes, the Honeckerregimehas offeredthe'Protestant churches religious program time on radio and TV, pensions for the clergy, and financial help for the 1983 celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Luther's birth...
...Since the 1970s, their promisesofbetterlivingstandards have turned sour...
...m And The New Yorker for May 8 continues its inquiry into the state of the priesthood with this snippet from The News: "Slowly the camera moves upwardto take in the w-hole of him-tired,bearded, ~n a worn priest's hassock,describing how 'this is the time of day I always hear them.'" CommentsTheNewYorker: "The springs in those old hassocks always start squeaking around noon," Or just after the afternoon nap...
...and E~ ----Our annualNoCath91ics-Killed-in-Oklahoma-Tornado Award, to Religious News Service for its April 19 story, 'eOnN-AOtdNcmusTIAN' PLACES SECOND IN BOSTON MARATHON...
...A nun reported to authorities that she had hada vision that the body of the victim,AnnelieseMichel, was miraculously preserved intact in the grave a yearand-a-half ~f.ter death...
...No "miracle" had taken place;AnnelieseMichel's bodywas"normal,lydecayed...
...By holding out as a beleaguered but defiant alternative center of spiritualauthority, they have drawn people to them...
Vol. 105 • May 1978 • No. 11
