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News & Herald Volume
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
7
Number
8
•
October 24, 1997
Pope, Cardinals Concerned
About Lack Of Religious Freedom In Cuba WASHINGTON
(CNS)
— Cuba's
expressed concerns
few months before the pope's scheduled
tain its absolute control
visit to the island.
ety," the cardinal wrote.
Cuba has freedom of worship but
An editorial
lacks other religious liberties, said Car-
Pilot called the
Alamino of Havana. liberties:
worship,
the
comments
to reporters
CRS
"Freedom of religion
is
to
have the
communicating with
people by radio or television about their faith, the possibility of having Catholic schools or teaching religion in public schools, the right to have church-run hospitals," he continued. "What we lack is access to media, access to teach religion in schools. Recently we have had a little more freedom in terms of social outreach." Cardinal Ortega was in the United States to receive the Richard Cardinal
Gushing Award from the Missionary Society of St. James, the Boston archdiocesan missionary society. He was presented with the award, given in honor
thousands of pilgrims converged on the shrine for the celebration. The apparitions were declared worthy of belief by the church in 1 930.
Priests for Life Official
of his pastoral work as archbishop of Havana, Oct. 14 in Boston. At the society's annual dinner. Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston praised Cardinal Ortega as "a sign of hope." Cuban-bom Micho Spring and Angel Martinez described Cardinal Ortega, the son of a sugar field worker, as "the country's conscience."
Shares Gospel Message By
JIMMY ROSTAR
istry Priests for Life, visited
Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE
— His curriculum
vitae highlights extensive writings
on
and theology, but a primary rout« his priestly journey has taken him on involves discussing one message he did not pen but is called to live: the Gospel of life. Father Richard M. Hogan, associate director of the educational outreach mincatechetics, history, liturgy
Charlotte
little
"now pun-
people."
Argentine President Carlos Menem discussed religious freedom and the overall human rights picture in Cuba during a private meeting earlier this month. Speaking in Baltimore, Cardinal Ortega said the Cuban church and government have always had an open dialogue on "practical matters in terms of the church in society." "What we have not been able to do is have a profound dialogue about the role of the church in society on issues that are more philosophical and less of a dayto-day, practical nature," he said. "Before the pope comes, nothing of that nature will change. After the papal visit, I don't see that there will be major changes," the cardinal added. Cardinal Ortega said the pope's visit would strengthen the church's presence. The message of the pope and of the church to the Cuban people "is the message of faith in God.... It is a message of love, of reconciliation. There is a great desire among our people for peace. We always pray for peace because we do not want anything contrary to peace." The church's ability to serve the needy in Cuba, he said, is limited by the great poverty and the social structures set
1993.
of
ishes only the
and service. When we have the three liberties, we have freedom of religion. We have only one of them," the cardinal said. "Religious freedom is more than freedom of worship."
possibility of
Tens
barrassing period piece" that
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul and
has worked with Caritas Cuba, the church's charitable ann in Cuba, since
Portugal.
of Cuban soci-
same issue of The U.S. embargo "an em-
in the
prophetic liberty (religious education),
He made
in
its
has provided an
excuse to the Cuban government to main-
vices headquarters in Baltimore.
children
it
about religious freedom in Cuba just a
Oct. 15 on a visit to Catholic Relief Ser-
Mary made to three shepherd
which the
purpose. If anything,
II
"There are three
—
isolation
U.S. has pursued has not achieved
Pope John Paul
dinal Jaime Ortega
FATIMA PROCESSION Paris Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger leads the Fatima procession Oct. 13 to mark the 80th anniversary of the last of six appearances
"The policy of
leading churchman, a U.S. cardinal and
Law denounced the limits on religious freedom in Cuba in his Cardinal
weekly column in the Oct. 17 issue of The Pilot, Boston's archdiocesan news-
up by the government
to regulate distri-
bution of goods.
problem of direct person-to-person assistance, which has to be "There
is this
funneled through some state institution or another.
You
can't distribute (food,
medicine) directly to the people." Religious life has grown in Cuba in recent years, he said. Now 120 seminarians are studying in Cuba's two seminaries, whereas about 10 years ago 24 men were studying for the priesthood. The cardinal expressed concern over the refusal of the Cuban government to allow the church to run its own printing
Oct. 10-13 at the invitation of St. Gabriel
paper.
Parish's pro-life committee. He arrived with a plea to his audiences to embrace church teachings on abortion and eutha-
ment
nasia.
these limitations are justified precisely
house.
"The first thing we can do is pray we have never prayed before, because there have been 35 to 40 million
because of the alleged threat posed by the U.S.," he wrote, referring to the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The embargo was first imposed in 1962 and was tightened
"For the ongoing pastoral needs of is an important have the printing press. We have asked for this for many years, and it just has not been possible," he said.
like
children aborted since 1973," he said
See Hogan, Page 2
"It is
limit
never justified for a govern-
to limit religious freedom or to freedom of expression. In Cuba,
in 1992.
the church in Cuba, this issue, to