03.09.90

Page 1

t eanc 0 VOL. 34, NO. 10

Friday, March 9, 1990

F ALL RIVER, MASS.

'FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

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Vatican is mum on alleged plot VATlCAN CITY (CNS) - A Vatican spokesman refused to comment on a Soviet defector's allegation that the KGB made preparations in 1979 to assassinate Pope John Paul II. "I have no comment to make on the issue, and this has been the constant position of the Vatican from the beginning," said spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. The Soviet press agency Novosti, in a statement in Rome, said the allegations were part of a maneuver to damage Soviet-Vatican relations. It said such accusations seem to· surface "whenever there is an improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the Holy See." "Just a few days ago, the pope had new words of praise for 'perestroika,' noting the positive trend of the last several months," the Novosti statement noted.

The cable, Sheymov said, told agents to obtain information about how to get physically close to the pope. Sheymov said this was a euphemism for trying to kill the Polish-born pontiff. The pope was shot and seriously wounded in 1981, and a Turk, Mehmet Ali Agca, was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy. Later Agca alleged that Bulgarian agents were involved in the planning and carrying out of the attack. After a lengthy investigation, several Bulgarians and Turks were tried but acquitted for lack of evidence. The Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, and Vatican Radio did not report Sheymov's allegations. The Vatican has consistently avoided any public comment on the plot allegations'. The pope said shortly after the shooting that he had forgiven his assailant; and he later went to visit Agca in his prison cell in Italy. In private, however, several Vatican officials have let it be known that they believe there probably was a plot involving Soviet-bloc intelligence services. Several Italian political figures reacted cautiously to Sheymov's allegations, but Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti dismissed the revelations as "highly imagina-

The Vatican and the Soviet Union were preparing in March to exchange diplomatic representatives for the first time. In Washington March 2, Victor Sheymov, a self-described former KG B officer, told reporters that he was in Poland in 1979 when KGB agents discussed a cable from Yuri Andropov, then KGB chief. The KGB is the Soviet secret police g g y a_nd_inte_llie_nce_ae_nc_ ._ _t_ive._"

ONE OF 19 catechumens preparing for baptism through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults inscribes his name in the Book of the Elect during ceremonies Sunday at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River. Also participating were 55 candidates for continuing conversion: validly baptized non-Catholics now seeking to become members of the Catholic Church or baptized Catholics who have not been fully initiated into the church through the sacraments of Confirmation and/ or Eucharist. Bishop Daniel A. Cronin presided at the Rite of Election and Call For Continuing Conversion ceremonies, held each year on the first Sunday of Lent and marking the beginning of a more intense preparation for catechumens and candidates who will be fully initiated into the church at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, April 14. (Gaudette photo)

----I.Covenant House -probe continues Tree honors donors

A wood-carved Tree of Love created by Sister Gertrude Gaudette, O.P., to acknowledge memorial gifts benefiting the Dominican Sisters ofSt. Catherine of Siena, is the latest attraction in the halls of Fall River's Dominican Academy. The eight-foot by four-foot carving is of a tree whose leaves and surrounding stones may be reserved for inscription of a name by those

who wish to honor an individual, family or group. The remembrance gifts will benefit the sisters' development office, providing funds for furthering the order's ministries and providing care for elderly or infirm members. Dedicated on St. Valentine's Day, the tree represents "an outpouring of love" by the artist and Turn to Page Six

NEW YORK (CNS) - Franciscan Father Bruce Rit"ter resigned amid numerous but unproved charges of financial and sexual impropriety, but Covenant Housethe home for runaways he founded in 1968 - remained an object of investigations. In a week of rapid developments: - Father Ritter turned in his resignation Feb. 27 to Covenant House's board of directors, ending 22 years as head of what has become the nation's largest public or private program for street childi"en. He said the controversy surrounding him for the past three months "has made it impossible for me to lead Covenant House

effectively"~

SISTER GERTRUDE Gaudette, center, with Father Pierre E. Lachance and Sister Donna Brunell at the dedication of her Tree of Love. (Hickey photo)

- Frank J. Macchiarola, acting Covenant House president since Feb. 8, when Father Ritter was told by his religious order to take a leave of absence pending the order's investigation of alleged sexual activity by the priest, also resigned the same day. He afterward accused the board of refusing to accept his recommendat.ions to bring "more sunlight" into Covenant House operations. - The board named James J. Harnett, chief executive of Covenant House under both Father Ritter and Macchiarola, as its new acting head.

- Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced Feb. 28 that his office was closing its investigation of Father Ritter without bringing charges He said Father Ritter engaged in some "questionable" financial transactions, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute. Some Covenant House officials may have violated the law in helping a troubled youth obtain false identity papers, he said, but after consulting with the family of the dead child whose identity was used he had decided not to prosecute.

were "baseless" and "totally without merit." In an interview with Catholic News Service, Harnett said March I that contributions to Covenant House have leveled off since sexual allegations against Father Ritter first surfaced in December. Plans" to expand operations into other cities have had to be put on hold, but contributors "haven't run for the hills" and the agency can continue to serve street kids in its existing programs, he said. A spokesman for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams said March 2 that Abrams - The same day Father Conall . had "stepped up" his office's invesMcH ugh, New Jersey-based super- tigation of alleged Covenant House ior of the Conventual Franciscan financial improprieties following province to which Father Ritter Morgenthau's decision to drop his belongs, said that the order's investigation. investigation of alleged sexual the state attorney general's office activity by Father Ritter "will conoversees laws governing charitable tinue its course." The order was organizations. It reportedly was looking into claims by Darryl J. focusing especially on allegations Bassile of Ithaca, N, Y" that he and that Father Ritter and other CovFather Ritter had a sexual relaenant House officials received pertionship when he was a teen-age sonalloans from Franciscan Charresident of Covenant House. itable Trust, a fund Father Ritter In separate statements shortly established in 1983 to help Covafter Morgenthau's announcement, enant -House residents or clients. Harnett and Covenant House According to The New York board chairman Ralph A. Pfeiffer Times, the fund, worth nearly $1 Jr. described the district attorney's million, was used at various times decision as confirmation that the Turn to Page Six allegations against Father Ritter


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