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December Volume
4,
&
1998
Number 14
8
Serving Catholics
Western North Carolina
in
in
the Diocese of Charlotte
Protesting Give children
the
the School of
gift of
books
the Americas
for
Christmas Diocesan parishioners, ...Page
13
join
thousands
FORT BENNING,
Year indulgences
must not continue ...Page
3
—
to support an insti-
tution which trains foreign officers to torture,
maim and
own
repress their
people," said Sister Linda Scheckelhofif,
Pope says 1999 should
Franciscan who ministers in Yadkin ville. She is one of more than 7,000 a
begin pilgrimage of sharing ...Page
7
Local News
people who protested the continued operation of the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning Nov. 22. The nonviolent protest, at the main gate of the base, concluded a twoday vigil of about 7,000 participants including several hundred from North Carolina honoring victims reportedly kidnapped, tortured and murdered by some of SOA's graduates, who are Latin American soldiers. More than 2,300 of the protesters risked arrest by military police Nov. 22 when they "crossed the line" and entered the military compound.
—
—
Charlotte priest lives
of love
16
...Page
"Fire in the
at gathering
From Staff and Wire Reports Ga. "We, the citizens of the U.S., cannot and
Guidelines for Holy
life
religious
Mountains '98"
held at Lake Junaluska
Those
risking arrest formed a
protesters say were victims of
...Page
3
me-
morial funeral procession, led by actor Martin Sheen. They carried cofTms and small white crosses bearing the names of Latin Americans who the
SOA
graduates.
Before leading the solemn procesSheen said the SOA "is an embarrassment to our Army." A voice on a loudspeaker system read out a roll-call litany of victims'
Photo by Joann Keane
sion.
Every Week
names, to which the protesters reEditorials
& Columns
sponded, "Presente." ...Pages
4-5
Entertainment Pages 10-11
The SOA, nicknamed the "School of Assassins" by its critics, has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers. Graduates of the school have been implicated in abuse and atrocities cited in human rights reports in Central and South America.
The feast of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, is
celebrated Dec. 8.
Sister Linda Scheckelhoff and Franciscan Sister Andrea Inkrott, who staff the Catholic Hispanic Center in
Yadkinville, worked in Chiapas, Mexico, in the 1970s and '80s. They say the Mexican state is currently occupied by tens of thousands of Mexican troops, many of whom are commanded by SOA graduates. The vigil was organized by SOA
Vietnamese culture center dedication Binh Bui presents flowers at the altar during the dedication ceremony of St. Joseph, the newly established Vietnamese culture center in Charlotte. Bui's costume represents traditional Vietnamese culture; the lace outer layer is used for very special occasions. See story pages 8-9. Watch, founded by Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois, decorated Vietnam veteran, missionary and outspoken of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. All together the priest has spent about four years in federal prison for his civil disobedience protests. Father Bourgeois helped lead the critic
Army officials had told the demonstrators that they could be arrested
and sent to prison for trespassing on the post. But military police placed the protesters onto buses and dropped them off about a mile away from the front gate.
The marchers
received letters bar-
marchers onto the base, and was fully prepared to serve jail time for "cross-
ring them from Fort Benning until midnight that day. In a press confer-
ing the
ence, Maj. Gen. Carl F. Ernst said
line."
Minutes
earlier.
Father Bourgeois
"We are here to honor the brothand sisters in Latin America who have been silenced and, yes, to close said:
ers
the School of the Americas."
one's
no names were taken and no one
would be
arrested.
Ernst,
See
who
said the institution
school-protest,
page
is
14