When research masquerades

...It's a form of argument by innuendo,'' cloaked in the mantle'' of pseudo-scholarship — no fewer than forty-three, often lengthy, sometimes repeated, textual citations in a fourteen-page paper...

...Each of their national conferences as well as their regional secretariat (SECAQ have published several comprehensive statements and pastoral letters in the past five years touching precisely on the same themes the Digest addresses...

...They have posts which are incompatible with their duties as priests.' " A direct quote from the homily, right...

...When I was in school it was considered unacceptable, never mind dishonest, to list sources not actually consulted...

...But attention (that can only be termed excessive) to a handful of quotations, often ripped out of context, from four or five of fhe forty-some bishops of Central America, matched by almost total inattention to the several more official, presumably more accessible, joint pastoral letters and communiques by these same hierarchies, suggests a very particular focus...

...For example, a set of eight (|uotes (Nos...

...policy" — and by ridiculously selective quoting, construct a caricature of the bishops...

...The archbishop has endlessly repeated mat his opposition to Soviet or Cuban or Nicaraguan arms supplies to the rebels is just as firm as his opposition to U.S...

...THATISONLY one side...

...What he did say, noting the Vatican's recent pressure on the Nicaraguan priests in government, was that the Salvadoran priests who have political responsibilities with the FDR-FMLN should also "straighten out things" with the church...

...This evenhanded, non-partisan, evangelical criticism of excesses and praise of accomplishments has typified Archbishop Rivera's approach since 1980...

...embassies in each country...

...Reagan's foreign policies, the office has not been entirely ineffective...

...But he has to keep repeating it because the Salvadoran right-wing, people like the so-called "Traditional Catholic Movement," accuse him of supporting the left and the "Communist farce of the dialogue.'' In one of their recent paid 5 April 1985: 111 ads, they warned him to remember what happened to his predecessor...

...After the initial citation (National Catholic Register as quoted in Ptacek), Ptacek is cited just twice more (op...

...But mat has not deterred Mrs...

...In several of the interviews cited, the translation itself raises questions...

...Ambassador to El Salvador, Thomas Pickering...

...On the other side," the archbishop continues (but the Digest doesn't), "despite internal and external pressure, there has been no stop to the death squads, which could be a sign of humanizing the conflict...

...They both should end...

...Its major successes have clearly been among the members of the choir itself, what one exasperated former participant terms the "Moral Majority crowd...

...They like what he has to say in criticism of the left but turn suddenly deaf when he criticizes actions of either the Salvado-ran or U.S...

...Canon 287.2 forbids clergy to participate actively in political parties without approval from the competent church authority...

...But that support is dwindling not only because of the fear of official repression but also because of guerrilla actions that cause increased hardship...

...although unfortunately this is also the condition for more arms to come, and thereby the danger that the conflict will extend bringing more destruction and death...

...bishop is unaware of events in Nicaragua...

...Archbishop Rivera ends by noting that "the quotes alone do not allow one to have a full idea of our thinking about the situation in El Salvador nor of the measures which we consider very necessary for our country, such as the dialogue...

...The Digest even quotes this sentence in another place, presumably to cite the sentence that follows: "Nevertheless my words should not be interpreted exclusively as a one-sided condemnation...

...All eight quotes are taken from it...

...Instead of telling us what the Central American episcopates have to say about the key questions affecting Central America today, the paper simply makes its own assertions and interlards them with more or less apt-seeming "proof texts...

...The Digest manages to misread the final word as "exploration...

...One example among several: Bishop Rosa Chavez is quoted as saying "The church cannot accept that the Marxist line be adopted in order to defend the poor as this would lead to the acceptance of class struggle and even the use of violence...

...Just as he has criticized both the government and the guerrillas, he has kept open communication with both and thereby become the peace-talk mediator acceptable to both...

...The bishop was arguing precisely against U.S...

...his brother, Fernando, is called his cousin...

...and one of these (39) is not even in Ptacek...

...What the Central American bishops say about Central America is firmly on record...

...Catholic Conference in Washington, D.C...

...And whether correctly or badly translated, the citation bears only the most tenuous relation to the Digest point it is supposed to illustrate, namely that "one reason the Salvadoran people do not support the guerrillas is their commitment to foreign ideologies...

...The bishop condemns both as violating the rights of the innocent and uses these evidences of a deepening war to call once again for a political solution...

...CENTRAL AMERICAN BISHOPS & THE WHITE HOUSE When research masquerades THOMAS E. OUIGLEY ONE OF THE less noticed participants in the public debate on Central America has been the White House Office of Public Liaison (OPL...

...More than slipshod journalism, this paper seems to be an attempt to co-opt the episcopates of two countries on behalf of policies they have repeatedly rejected...

...names of two Italian newspapers cited are misspelled...

...Whittlesey, or her specialist for Catholic affairs, Robert R. Reilly, from wooing the Catholic leadership, especially the country's three hundred bishops who have been the recipients of several "Your Excellency" mailings...

...SUCH hit-and-run tactics typify the paper's approach...

...Since U.S...

...Anyone familiar with the several joint pastorals from Central American episcopates recognizes the standard "even-handed" formulation — a pox on both imperialisms, Soviet and U.S...

...The name of the Nicaraguan bishops' president is given incorrectly...

...He notes that while Canon 285.3 (prohibiting priests from taking jobs that involve exercising civil power) does not apply here, two other canons may...

...He seems to have a different problem with the U.S...

...Therefore I am opposed to all flow of arms to Central America and especially to El Salvador...

...These on-the-spot responses may or may not reflect the individual bishop's considered reflection...

...arms supplies to the Salvadoran armed forces...

...But this is not brutality that the bishop is criticizing...

...Somewhat like a Dutch uncle he is telling the guerrillas that if they have any hope of success they need the support of the people...

...It has focused heavily, far more than other administration offices are wont to do, on the evils of godless Communism, of Marxism-Leninism in Central America, and even of liberation theology...

...bishops and their national conference probably win the prize for most frequently citing the Central American bishops (though they hardly "cloak their criticism in the mantle" of the church — a curious construction) they may justly feel themselves an object of this particular focus...

...It would be much easier to do than the task undertaken by the White House author...

...Take the thirty-three "endnotes," for example, which give a superficial impression of encompassing a wide range of sources...

...These are published documents, printed and available to anyone, including the U.S...

...24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42) cites the National Catholic Register, Diario Las Americas, El Diario de Hoy, Agence France Presse, Catholic Standard, and an article by Kerry Ptacek from a 1984 book published by Ernest Lefever's Ethics and Public Policy Center...

...One should ponder "the other side...

...It would be absurd, but by no means difficult, to produce a kind of counter- Digest using only quotes condemning actions of the armed forces, the right-wing political parties, and the death squads, as well as military aid and superpower intervention...

...Indeed not...

...Even the one that seems most harshly critical of the guerrillas, Bishop Rosa's of last July 1, refers to two events: the brief practice by just one of the FMLN groups of forced recruitment and the dramatic, also brief, capture of the Cerron Grande dam...

...Representatives of our government interested in learning what these bishops say should not be forced to root about in obscure publications for little noticed interviews and snatches of ill-translated homilies...

...Later on the paper avers that many North Americans "have yet to realize the changes that have taken place in Nicaragua since 1979," because of which "there are even some Catholic bishops in the U.S...

...In effect, Rivera is saying that even the desirable effort to end the death squads will ironically have the undesirable consequence of more military aid...

...And anyone following the hotly contested issue of human rights reportage in El Salvador who could be ignorant of the archdiocese's human rights office Tutela Legal, and imagine that Socorro Juridico is "the legal aid office of the archbishopric," just isn't paying attention...

...In three of these the Digest's author may actually have consulted the original homilies but, as above, ignored the context...

...The tone is obviously different (no loaded "Marxist line" terms), as is the emphasis...

...The church's non-acceptance of a particular type of analysis is simply a comment on the liberation theology debate, not an apodictic rejection for its own sake of the "Marxist line...

...Why is the prestige of the presidency so carelessly jeopardized by these repeated forays into an area — church and religion in Central America — that the Digest's authors are clearly ill-equipped to handle...

...Hardly a Sunday goes by that the cathedral homily fails to comment, whether critically or positively, on some aspect of both the government and the opposition...

...Often the quotes barely illustrate the points being made...

...right...

...Each of these homilies illustrates this balance...

...What U.S...

...Under the leadership of Faith Ryan Whittlesey, the once and future ambassador to Switzerland, it has assiduously cultivated a significant middle sector of American public opinion that could broadly be termed the neoconservative religious leadership...

...There is no mention whatsoever of the current human rights agency of the archdiocese, Tutela Legal...

...Never mind that in most of these cases even the "original" 1981 IRD article is a tertiary source: Ptacek quoting a newspaper article quoting a bishop...

...A copy found its way to Archbishop Rivera Damas of San Salvador and the archbishop, seeing himself cited misleadingly throughout the paper, sent a note of protest to U.S...

...No, it's only made to look like one...

...and we are told of' 'five Roman Catholic priests on the ruling junta'' of Nicaragua...

...There are, however, far more serious problems with this paper...

...Ernesto Car-denal is called a Trappist monk (but that's all right, the wire services do it all the time...

...The Digest then moves to the matter of priests working in the "controlled areas": "In his homily of August 12, 1984, the archbishop ordered the priests in his see to sever their ties with the guerrillas, saying, 'The Salvadoran and foreign priests who are politically committed to the leftist guerrilla cause should arrange their situation, which is in contradiction with those who prescribe the canon law...

...On the contrary, the Salvadoran bishops "oppose both the war and the provision of arms from whatever source," and their "principal position is that we favor the dialogue as the solution to our problems, the dialogue which had already begun by October 31," the date affixed to this White House Digest...

...Later, the Digest quotes what Ptacek's article termed "a little noticed interview" given in 1981 by Bishop Rivera in New York: "Instead of sending arms, you could help put a cordon around our country to impede the arrival of arms from the Soviet bloc.'' The Digest attempts to consider these words "support for U.S...

...On examination they reveal the tell-tale traces of mirrors and blue smoke...

...Viewed by some as a slightly declasse unofficial ministry of information, and by others as shamelessly propagandists on behalf of Mr...

...a Salvadoran bishop is misidentified...

...My main point," Archbishop Rivera told the ambassador, "is that the statements refer almost exclusively to the sending of arms to our country [which] could leave the impression that THOMAS E. QUIGLEY is an advisor on Latin American affairs at the U.S...

...It has the aroma of a desperate undergraduate's overdue term paper...

...Nothing could be clearer...

...The archbishop then turned to the question of military aid and repeated his constant position: he opposes the war, and while it continues, calls for it to be humanized, shortened, prevented from expanding, and ended through a political solution...

...What was the point of this ill-researched White House mishmash...

...What groups, claiming to speak on behalf of the church, do so falsely and in support of the Communists...

...That last sounds enough like a bad translation to be authentic, but it's not in the homily...

...It's actually from the Washington Times, the Moonie flagship paper...

...A more straightforward translation would be: "What the church cannot accept is that in the effort to serve the poor it have recourse to the Marxist analysis that brings with it the acceptance of class struggle, etc...

...This text illustrates a further problem...

...But the paper goes on to interpret this as primarily a reference to Cuba...

...we are concerned only with the question of military aid, and that our position on the matter is as if we believed that the war, and therefore the military aid, should continue...

...What does being "supportive" of another country's government mean...

...He continues to denouce "the abuses and the meddling into our conflict...

...Meddling" always refers to the unwanted interference of outside powers...

...But it would not be significantly more honest...

...Well, politics, obviously, and the need to sell the president's Central American policy...

...In the case of El Salvador, "many partisans from different sides have claimed to have the church on their side . , . because some groups who claim to speak on behalf of the church (usually in support of the Communists) do so falsely.'' These are extraordinary assertions...

...The same homily comments approvingly on the recent visit of Jesse Jackson and his message echoing the pope's that peace is possible and must be pursued through non-military means...

...This quote is followed in rapid succession by five more from Archbishop Rivera or his auxiliary, all critical of the guerrilCommonweal: 210 las, and all but one from 1984...

...Rivera also noted the Digest's inexplicable references to Socorro Juridico as "the legal aid office of the archbishopric of San Salvador," although it had been separated from the archdiocese for over two and a half years...

...governments...

...The article, in fact, was published in 1981 by the Institute on Religion and Democracy...

...The Digest says the guerrillas lack popular support because of their brutal methods, and quotes Rivera's March 11 homily criticizing the FMLN attacks against what is called the economic infrastructure...

...At the outset the Digest author tells us that those who criticize the administration's Central America policies "often cloak their criticism in the mantle of the Catholic church" whose "authority lends credibility to their arguments...

...aid to counter what the terrorist elements receive from Nicaragua and Cuba...

...The most recent, but by no means the shoddiest of these documents that have darkened episcopal mailboxes, was a White House Digest, sent out last November entitled "What Central American Bishops Say About Central America...

...For example, the paper cites the Nicaraguan bishops' Easter pastoral letter: "Foreign powers take advantage of our situation to encourage economic and ideological exploitation...

...Does it mean that one doesn't favor one's own country's overthrowing it...

...But simply as literary genre, they cannot be given the same weight as the far more representative and "official" pastoral letters, communiques, and homilies these same bishops have been issuing with remarkable frequency in recent years...

...who are still supportive of the Nicaraguan Commonweal: 208 junta...

...The context is the Vatican Instruction on liberation theology and the bishop is addressing "the problem of how best to serve the cause of the poor...

...There never were, of course, any priests on the former three-person junta, just three priests with ministerial rank and one serving as an ambassador...

...should be able to find ways to help interdict illegal transshipments of arms...

...The archbishop didn't mention foreign priests, or the leftist guerrilla cause, or say anyone's situation "is in contradiction with those who prescribe canon law...

...Nearly half of all the citations are from what could charitably be called "interviews" given by one or another bishop to journalists...

...Through its weekly Central American "Outreach" sessions held in the auditorium of the Old Executive Office Building, and through extensive mailings of its White House Digest and other publications, OPL has sought to persuade sectors of the religious community of the lightness, indeed righteousness, of the administration's analysis of and policy toward Central America...

...military aid to El Salvador ("Instead of sending arms") and suggesting that the mighty U.S...

...By "abuses" Rivera usually refers to actions by the army and security forces — abuses of power...

...And Canon 289.1, which Rivera says "perhaps" applies, holds that military service is less compatible with the clerical state, so that no priest should voluntarily sign-up without his bishop's approval...

...They both fuel the conflict when the need is for a political settlement...

...One more point on the Digest's careless research, A series of factual inaccuracies, minor in themselves, so dot the paper as to raise questions about the author's basic familiarity with the topic...

...As with this White House Digest, they thrash about beating a straw man — "the impression that the church hierarchy in Central America is totally opposed to U.S...