Episcopal Press and News
God's People Have Suffered Enough
Episcopal News Service. March 28, 1989 [89065]
James M. Rosenthal, II, Editor, Anglican Advance, Chicago
MANAGUA (DPS, Mar. 28) -- In a spirit of solidarity and concern, the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, led a delegation of primates, bishops, clergy, and laity to the strife-torn country of Nicaragua (March 14-19). The visit, the result of an invitation by the Rt. Rev. Sturdie W. Downs, Anglican Bishop of Nicaragua, was one of advocacy and encouragement for the people of the Nicaraguan Church as it ministers to its people. "We have come with a hope that our visit will enable us to be advocates for justice which will bear fruit in a lasting peace," the bishops declared in their joint statement issued on the eve of Passion Sunday in the capital city of Managua.
Joining the Presiding Bishop on the visit were the Most Rev. Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop of Capetown, Province of Southern Africa; the Most Rev. Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; the Most Rev. Orland Lindsay, Archbishop of the West Indies; and the Rt. Rev. James Ottley, Bishop of Panama and President of Province IX of the Episcopal Church (which includes dioceses in Central America, Mexico, and in countries in the northern portion of South America). Patti Browning, Leah Tutu, Olga Lindsay, and Dorothy Peers joined their husbands on this historic visit.
The Bishop of Costa Rica, the Rt. Rev. Cornelius Wilson, and the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Bishop of Chicago, also took part in the program with the primates. The Diocese of Chicago had formed its own delegation of clergy and laity who journeyed to the Diocese of Nicaragua to officially open its companion diocese relationship with the Nicaraguan Church.
The whirlwind exposure to the life and history of Nicaragua brought the bishops and their party face to face with the sights, sounds, and temperaments of this small Central American country during a period of struggles and victories. It reminded them of the birth of a nation.
Tensions as well as expectations run high in Nicaragua. A Church that once served English and North American traders, landowners, and wealthy business concerns, now has before it ministry to people that challenge the Church with their experience, culture, and way of life. The Rt. Rev. Sturdie Downs, a native of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast region, serves as a symbol of the Church's emerging presence in the country. Downs sees the Episcopal Church as "a viable alternative to the Roman Catholic and Evangelical churches." Downs feels people have responded well to the openness and inclusivity of the Anglican Church as it continues to shape its role in the larger religious community.
The vigorous itinerary set by the host committee of the Diocese of Nicaragua, led by Isolina Downs, the Rev. Ennis Duffis, the Rev. Hedley Wilson, the Rev. Allan Taylor, and Jorge Porter, included an intentional and unrestricted encounter with pro-government, antigovernment, and neutral organizations as they relate to the country's postrevolutionary Sandinista government. The primates met with human rights organizations, the three major daily newspapers, and ecumenical church leaders, all of whom gave testimony to their life and work in the country since the revolution. Every imaginable twentieth-century political, sociological, psychological, religious, and economic confrontation has become part of the framework of Nicaragua.
A lingering sense of contradiction faces the people as they continue their struggle to free their country from the terrorism of dictatorship, while finding their way, often stumbling, with a burden too large for a young country to manage alone. Nicaraguans face the reality of over a dozen political parties that seek to influence people in their thinking.
The constant threat of counterrevolutionary attacks forces an already weak and depleted economy to provide funds for arms and protection while people are homeless and hungry on the streets of its cities and villages. The bishops' statement called on the United States government to cease financial assistance to Contra forces stationed in Honduras, and expressed "deep distress and anger when we have seen the intense suffering inflicted by the Contra war, a war financed and sponsored by people sitting in the safety of foreign capitals." Their call affirmed the stand already taken by the 1988 General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
In and out of crowded jeeps and vans, the primates' delegation was a sight to behold. Even in the heat of the day, the bishops donned cassocks of bright magenta, some complete with zuchettos (skull caps). The people warmly welcomed the bishops. Downs expressed his thanks to the delegation for their visit and assured them of the importance of their presence for the Episcopal Church. Press coverage reached a new high for the diocese, as reporters and camera operators followed the Anglican troupe.
Worship and prayer were central to the visit of the chief pastors; a solemn eucharist was celebrated in Managua on the first night of the visit. A similar liturgy was offered later in the tour, in the ruined Church of San Marcos (St. Mark's Episcopal Church) in Bluefields, in the country's Atlantic Coast region. Downs was born in this part of the country, an area that is also the birthplace of Anglicanism in Nicaragua. The Atlantic Coast was also the region hardest hit by Hurricane Joan in October 1988.
In Managua, the service was held at St. Francis Church, where the congregation includes members of the United States Embassy staff as well as an emerging Hispanic congregation. Archbishop Tutu preached the homily, which challenged the gathering to hear the words of the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the Lord as the one to be a light to the nations, to open eyes that are blind, and to bring out the prisoners from the dungeons. Tutu used the propers of a votive mass for social justice, where the words of the Epistle of James -- "Listen my beloved, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?" -- spoke to members of the delegation as well as to the hundreds of people packing the church.
Events in Managua included a one-and-a-half-hour live television talk show on the government channel that focused on Anglicanism and the role of the Church in strife-torn areas of the world. The bishops met with leaders of CEPAD, the Evangelical Committee for Aid in Development, which provides a united witness and focus for the Church in Nicaragua. The Episcopal Church is a founding member of CEPAD.
On March 16, the primates were invited to participate in a unique live television program in Managua called "Cara al pueblo" (Face the People) in which the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and members of his cabinet customarily answer questions posed by ordinary Nicaraguans about problems in the country. The primates and their delegation sat with the Nicaraguan government group during the program. Browning and Tutu expressed their hopes and concerns for the people of Nicaragua during the telecast.
The delegation was also received by John Leonard, charge d'affaires at the United States embassy. The fortress-like embassy building symbolizes the tensions that prevail between the United States and Nicaragua. The attitude expressed by staff members at the embassy seemed to indicate a wish to have relations improve under the Bush administration. The bishops concurred with these hopes.
Perhaps the most moving episodes in the visit of the primates took place on March 17 when they went to Bluefields. Hurricane Joan hit Bluefields with a vengeance, destroying already poorly constructed buildings, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Yet, as the bishops left the military plane provided by the government (one cleric nicknamed it "Airforce One"), they could hear the sounds of hammers and saws in every corner of the city.
In the ruins of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, the bell tower survives, and the sound of its bell greeted the bishops at their first stop in Bluefields. Witnesses said that the same bell rang a solemn death knell on the night of the hurricane, a different sound from the joyful peal as the bishops greeted the faithful. The Primate of Canada celebrated a Solemn Eucharist in the ruins of St. Mark's, with the Archbishop of the West Indies as preacher. As chief pastor, Browning brought special greetings to the hundreds of worshipers, declaring the celebration as one that surpassed many of the ceremonies he had experienced in the great cathedrals of the world. Browning's presence and posture during the entire Central American visit was one of pastor, friend, and advocate for the people of God who live there.
A highlight of the visit to the Atlantic Coast region was the meeting with the mayor, the representative to the National Assembly from the Atlantic Coast region, and an official who traced an impressive plan for the recovery of the area, as well as outlining its unique history. At the eucharist, the Prayers of the People invited the congregation to pray that the world might be freed from "poverty, famine, and disaster," realities to many in that community.
Nicaragua continues to face the dilemma of balancing people of several nationalities and races, while existing in an atmosphere of tension between those who speak Spanish and those who speak English.
"God's people have suffered enough," was an acclamation that summarized the bishops' concern for the people of Nicaragua. "One cannot visit the country without being overwhelmed by the toll of life and property-caused by a chain of events -- the oppression of the Somoza regime, the earthquake, the hurricane, and agonizing civil war and the present forest fires," the statement read. Dorothy Peers observed that the people of Bluefields have "put up with a lot," but she found them smiling and openhearted, and she feels this is a "sign of hope -- they have not lost their sense of preparing for the future."
It was no accident that the pastoral visit of the primates came as Holy Week approached. "The Nicaraguan people have described their life and spiritual journey as a constant passion. They live each day as a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross). Our presence is a show of solidarity and a demonstration of faith in a loving and reconciling God," the bishops stated.
Ortega met with the party at the airport before their departure for Panama on Palm Sunday. Headlines in the official Sandinista daily La Barricada had reported that Browning would do all in his power to seek peace in Nicaragua through an appeal to George Bush, the President of the United States, who is an Episcopalian. In his remarks on Nicaragua, Browning stressed his belief that Bush, as a committed Christian and an active Episcopalian, would work for justice and peace in Nicaragua.