Correspondence
Correspondence Tip of the island Washington, D.C. To the Editors: The national media was quick to cover the return of Jesse Jackson from Cuba last June and the reunion of the Cuban prisoners with...
...There is a Chinese proverb: "If you wish to know the road ahead, ask those coming back...
...To be sure, it may call for courage bordering on the heroic, such as that shown by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop oi Lincoln, in May 1250...
...To the Editors: The national media was quick to cover the return of Jesse Jackson from Cuba last June and the reunion of the Cuban prisoners with their families in Miami the following day...
...If mis is the breed of politician which new generation Democrats are promoting, then neo-Reagan Republicans can chuckle all the way to 1988...
...Are you guilty in the end of painting your neighbors' emotions with what you think is the right war paint...
...To the Editors: It was somewhat disappointing to read Karen Sue Smith's interview with the self-described ' 'presidential aspirant" and governor of Arizona, Bruce Babbitt [February 22...
...We do not reach our high point in life when we cry over an obviously manufactured moment — be it ET or Lassie...
...Prefacing his rather stark criticism, he said, "I fear to speak it, but yet I dare not be silent, lest I should merit the reproach of the prophet, 'Woe is me, because I have held my peace!' " The church's history reveals notable examples of courage of this kind and more than one example of what may befall a bishop who offers candid criticism of the policies of the Roman Curia...
...But that does not mean that their words and their church-going are empty...
...But I feel that he has taken a dangerous jump at this point...
...To the Editors: It is always tempting to judge, to go beyond a simple warning, to go from helpful to damning...
...Barbara Joe's interview with these returnees from the Cuban Gulag is timely and instructive...
...All of this is known by the governor touted by some as a "new breed Democrat," who so willingly called out the state police and militia to serve Phelps Dodge all in the name of so-called "law and order...
...It would be the latter if the proceedings were to be fixed and the bishops manipulated in an attempt to turn back the clock and (Continued on page 222) Commonweal: 194 (Continued from page 194) reverse the direction of the council...
...Phelps Dodge today has the same mentality for labor relations — they would rather destroy its unions than deal with them...
...James Brodrick, expressed it, "The pope, who appears to have been worried by the presence of such a highly qualified but too candid critic at his court, began, il would seem, to look about for some means of gracefully 'rusticating' him...
...JOHN TRACY ELLIS The Catholic University of America A tarnished record Pittsburgh, Pa...
...Garvey, we all know the story of the people who go to church and still lead terrible lives...
...Presumably, Pope John Paul II believes they have something worthwhile to say...
...There cannot be a restoration...
...It could be a triumph for the whole church, or it could be a disaster...
...If not, then what is the point of assembling bishops from throughout the world for a period of several weeks...
...Come on, Mr...
...Maybe I am moved to tears by John John...
...I feel that John Garvey is sadly wrong in his column "Quivers of Conscience" [January 25...
...The governor says that he has a "responsibility to obey my conscience in my acts as a public official...
...Crying when Old Yeller dies along with the rest of us brings him closer to home than most writers...
...Castro on his behalf might tip the balance for his release...
...The Tablet writer declared: The extraordinary synod is a great challenge for the bishops...
...Saint Robert Bellarmine was a case ir point when he expressed his mind toe openly to Pope Clement VIE and was soon thereafter appointed archbishop oi Capua...
...But Barbara Joe and Commonweal [February 22] have gone below the surface euphoria to reveal a harrowing tale of brutality and human rights violations stretching over decades...
...Smith either glossed over the controversy that has inevitably tarnished the governor's political fortunes, or if she was too embarrassed to pose the question...
...Actions are important and maybe even more important than certain emotional states, but that does not mean that everything below these actions is worthless...
...That conscience was responsible for protecting the corporate interests of a reactionary employer with a failed labor and environmental record...
...Just because this is true, does not mean that those moments are false...
...The importation of scab labor, protected by the governor's DPS and militia, has split families apart and turned neighbor against neighbor...
...I have seen a letter from Santos Mirabal to his sister in this country, poignantly telling how he was taken from his cell with the others released last June, then returned, as recounted in the article...
...Letters to Mr...
...television regarding Cuba's human rights record, I thought a follow-up on my February 22 article might be in order...
...To the Editors: I confess to a certain embarrassment in responding to the editorial of February 8, given that I was quoted there...
...RUSSELL W. GIBBONS United Steelworkers of America Conscience awake Chicago 111...
...It had no room for the consequences of the destruction of the work and families of almost 2,000 Arizona copper workers...
...Most observers of the long strike of the Phelps Dodge workers, which began in July 1983, agree that it was the governor's decision to call out the club-happy Department of Public Safety and the National Guard which effectively broke the miners' strike and permitted Phelps Dodge to bring in non-union replacement workers ("scabs"), an act which introduced bitter community strife in Morenci, Clifton, Ajo, and other mining towns...
...The world's bishops should not only be heard, but insofar as they reflect sound views on present conditions among their priests, religious, and laity, they should likewise be heeded...
...VICTOR PRZYSIEZNY 5 April 1985: 223...
...While I am no better informed now than I was when you wrote about the forthcoming extraordinary synod, I share entirely the editors' viewpoint, especially in the closing paragraph which emphasizes the need for a collegia...
...John Garvey has done a wonderful job of describing those almost embarrassing moments...
...If that approach, sanctioned by Vatican Council II, is not put into practice it will, I fear, only add to the disappointment of many in the Catholic world at the failure of previous synods in that regard...
...As I said at the outset, I totally agree with every sentence in Commonweal's editorial of February 8, as I do with the editorial of The Tablet of London of February 2, a sentence or two of which 1 make my own in closing this comment...
...But given the council's commitment to the principle of col-legiality, might it not legitimately be expected that at least that quite limited aspect of ecclesial government be invoked...
...Phelps Dodge, for those who are not familiar with mem, has an unproud tradition as a company town employer, where all the housing, stores, medical and social services are company-controlled...
...To the Editors: In light of Fidel Castro's recent pronouncements on U.S...
...Something more is needed than a sustained "listening" on the part of those at the top in Rome...
...Frankly, I cannot conceive much of worth being accomplished in so brief a time span when one considers the complexity of the problems mat have risen in Catholic ranks in the aftermath of the council that closed in 1965...
...Commonweal readers not resident in Arizona should know that Bruce Babbitt is viewed by many of the citizens of that state not only as a "Catholic, Notre Dame alumnus, Harvard lawyer, husband and father," but also as a strikebreaker...
...As Bellarmine's biographer...
...I would like to think that the tears we quietly shed over these sentimental events are hints of something deeper, pointers helping us see the gentle side of life, reminders of love, of hope, of beauty...
...The repressive Cuban regime suggested by these reports has been in power for twenty-five years, without elections, free press, or any of the safeguards to human liberty which we cherish for ourselves and espouse for others...
...Hitler cried at the death of his canary" is such a terrible and trite insight that I can't believe that some editor didn't chance First Amendment violations and cut that out...
...That may open my heart to children who have felt loss and sorrow...
...They are, for historical records, the same copper barons of the infamous Bis-bee deportation — when hundreds of workers were herded into box cars and railroaded to the middle of the New Mexico desert in 1917...
...It will be interesting to see if those who cry out the loudest about human rights violations in Argentina and Chile will be just as quick to take up the case of the long-suffering Cubans...
...that being the case, then it is the bishops' obligation to speak with courage and candor and not permit another opportunity to pass for a realistic portrayal of the current situation to be analyzed and practical remedies offered for matters thai need correction...
...Mirabal was arrested at age twelve, reportedly for shooting a cow with a government weapon, though now, nineteen years later, no one is quite certain...
...it cannot succeed...
...Let us not turn off these simple emotions, saving only the embarrassment of the tear and losing the joy of life and love that such tears could call us to...
...It is certainly less costly to be moved to tears than to be moved to action" is so well stated that I have copied it for my card catalog...
...The human rights violations reported by these Cuban ex-prisoners are just the tip of the iceberg, the rest is hidden by a communications blackout abroad and terror at home...
...BARBARA E. JOE The synod in Rome Washington, D.C...
...Perhaps those who harbor romantic illusions about the future of Nicaragua's fledgling Marxist experiment will take careful notes...
...No one with an understanding of the monarchical character of the church's government will anticipate the introduction of the democratic process as understood by Americans...
...L. ANDREW FRAZIER Santos Mirabal Rockville, Md...
...Going to Arizona for the session, and presumably having read all of the notices on this "new generation Democrat," one wonCommonweal: 222 ders if Ms...
...Little wonder that Bruce Babbitt is a "rising star" for such groups as the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, which has given us such other "Democratic stars" as Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Ben Wattenberg...
...approach and spirit in the gathering scheduled for next November...
Vol. 112 • April 1985 • No. 7
