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Episcopal Bishops Call for Continued Solidarity with Church in El Salvador and Release of Church Workers

Episcopal News Service. December 19, 1989 [89258]

Four Episcopal bishops who were sent on a special mission to El Salvador have returned with one common message -- continue the pressure for release of church workers held by the government and find new ways to express solidarity with churches being persecuted.

Bishops William Frey of Colorado, William Swing of California, David Reed of Kentucky, and James Ottley of Panama were sent to El Salvador by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning after government forces conducted a predawn raid on November 20 at St. John the Evangelist Church in San Salvador and seized 21 church workers, including the church's rector, the Rev. Luis Serrano. Browning and a dozen other church leaders in the United States issued a statement on November 29 declaring their "outrage over the deliberate and calculated campaign by government forces in El Salvador to intimidate and harass the churches in that country" and criticizing U.S. government policy as insufficient.

After Bishops Frey and Reed were turned back at the airport in San Salvador, and while Bishop Swing waited in Miami for his visa, the Episcopal Church expressed its disapproval of the Salvadoran government's handling of these matters to Salvadoran diplomats in the United States, and Browning sent a fax message to President Cristiani of El Salvador. Cristiani apologized for the "inconveniences" and promised that the bishops would be allowed to enter the country.

"All the doors were opened to us after the deportation incident," Bishop Ottley reported to colleagues at the Episcopal Church Center on his return. Ottley said that the bishops spent twohours meeting with Cristiani, met with the American ambassador, and were able to visit several of the Episcopal church workers in jail, including Serrano. Ottley said that Serrano was in good spirits and was not being mistreated, although other jailed church workers had obviously been beaten. Serrano told the bishops that his only sin was "working with the poor" and that the government would not be able to substantiate its charges that he knew about a truck belonging to guerillas being loaded with ammunition on the grounds of his church.

A civilian judge must decide if Serrano will be tried, but Ottley said that the church workers were "optimistic they will not go to trial and will be released soon."

As a graphic reminder of the inherent danger of the mission, the bishops were awakened in the middle of the night by machine-gun fire and mortars, according to Bishop Reed's diary. After some restless sleep, the bishops met on December 7 with diocesan leaders, and the vice minister of foreign affairs and attended a two-hour meeting with Salvadoran president Alfredo Cristiani. The bishops tried to convince President Cristiani said that the charges were not valid, and the Salvadoran leader and promised to "look into the matter," denying that there was any systematic attempt to persecute the churches. Bishop Reed led a prayer "that all might find the peace that was God's will."

Bishop Swing said in an interview that the bishops had tried to let Cristiani know that the international churches were monitoring the situation and that the pressure on his government would continue to build. Swing came away from the meeting with the feeling that Cristiani did not understand the small Protestant churches in El Salvador and might have underestimated the international protests.

At the end of the day, the bishops met with three of the Episcopal prisoners. "The presence of four bishops in purple shirts in the office of the commandante of the prison made a real impact," Bishop Reed said in his diary. "It was worth all that we had gone through to get there."

Demilitarization is the first step

"This situation is too complex to put on a bumper sticker," Bishop Frey said in a phone interview. "I came away with more questions than answers," he added. "There is just no infrastructure for peace -- and that must be changed before anything else can happen. We may be looking at a problem that has no solution in the foreseeable future," he said.

The bishops agreed that the first step toward peace in El Salvador is demilitarization, "taking away the toys and then talking," as Frey put it. "All these groups wielding guns have their own definitions of justice," added Swing, who finds some hope in the recent meetings of the five Central American presidents and their attempts to demilitarize the region. Swing said that "it [demilitarization] can be done," and he pointed to Costa Rica as a good model.

The bishops all agreed that some continuing presence was important. They indicated a willingness to make another trip in the future, if the Presiding Bishop should find that it would be helpful. Ottley said that the visit of the bishops "may help ease the pressure for the time being," but he added that he thinks the future of the Episcopal Church may be at stake and that it may be necessary to form a group that would be "ready to respond quickly" as the situation continues to change.

Presiding Bishop Browning told the bishops in a conference call after their return that his recent conversations with U.S. and Salvadoran officials in Washington, D.C., suggested that the first step is for the United States and the Soviet Union to stop sending in arms so that the cycle of violence can be broken. He also restated his intention to challenge current U.S. policy in Latin America.

Episcopal Church confronts Salvadorans on church persecution

The bishops' trip was part of a continuing confrontation by the Episcopal Church and other church bodies over the threat to churches and church workers in El Salvador. At a press conference held on November 21, the day after the Episcopal church workers had been seized, Browning called for a "reassessment of our government's policy in Latin America from top to bottom," and said that the U.S. government should be doing everything in its power to stop the hostilities in El Salvador. "I really believe that the religious community has to continue in every way possible to put pressure both on our government and the government of El Salvador to bring about a release of the tension and a greater sense of peace and justice," Browning said in his statement.

A week later, one of the Episcopal church workers, Josephine Beecher, was released, and flown to the United States. She reported to Browning in New York and held a news conference (see ENS 89248). Beecher had been seized in the November 20 raid at St. John the Evangelist Church and, while in detention, was blindfolded, handcuffed, and beaten. "The U.S. government should not be funding the atrocities and murders in El Salvador," she said in her criticism of the close ties the United States maintains with the Salvadoran military regime. Beecher said that the Salvadoran military was trying to destroy the Episcopal Church in the country by depriving it of leadership during this critical time.

Browning sought an appointment with President George Bush. When that was not possible, he and 10 other church leaders met in Washington with House Speaker Thomas Foley, Senator Claiborne Pell of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and officials at the State Department to express their growing concern for the safety of church workers in El Salvador. Browning expressed his disappointment that the group couldn't meet Bush but said that the Speaker was "very open to our concerns about religious persecution and religious freedom" and planned a response.

Signs of a national campaign of concern

Concern for the safety of the church workers in El Salvador and criticism of U.S. policy is producing a nationwide campaign.

For example, the National Council of Churches (NCC) has launched a human-rights campaign to call attention to the harassment of church workers, which will culminate in ecumenical services across the nation on January 21. It has asked churches to place purple ribbons on their doors and leave them there until all imprisoned church leaders are released. The NCC has also asked its members to contact congressional representatives and encourage them to work to "guarantee safety and immediate freedom for imprisoned church workers," obtain a negotiated settlement to the civil war, and seek an end to U. S. military assistance to the Salvadoran military.

Churches in major cities across the nation are organizing protest marches. Bishop H. Coleman McGhee of Michigan participated in and spoke at a memorial service in Detroit for the Jesuits, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and "the other 70,000 who have been killed since the beginning of this conflict."

In Washington, D.C., Episcopalian, Lutheran, and American Baptist leaders held a news conference and issued a joint statement pointing out that "those who help the poor are being targeted with death threats and treated as enemies of the government." The church leaders presented their statement to the Salvadoran ambassador (see photo).

In Minnesota, a group of eight, including the husband of a member of the Episcopal Church, began a fast on Thanksgiving Day at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. Paul seeking an end to U.S.military aid to El Salvador. The strikers chose to begin their fast at the Cathedral because in El Salvador the church acts as "a voice for the voiceless, a place of refuge and sanctuary." They have formed an organization called Ecumenical Fast for El Salvador in Churches and Temples (EFFECT), which is sponsoring a number of events in other cities. It issued a statement on December 15 calling on "all people of faith and conscience" to pray and fast and come to Washington on January 23 to January 25 for a nationwide mobilization for peace in El Salvador.

The religious community in Hartford, Connecticut, held an ecumenical service "in solidarity with the persecuted church in El Salvador" at St. Joseph's Cathedral (see related story).

The Boston Religious Task Force, an interfaith coalition organized in response to the murder of the Jesuit priests, is holding a "service of renewal" to coincide with the opening of Congress. The Interreligious Task Force is conducting a fast and vigil at noon every day on the steps of the Episcopal cathedral in Boston.