FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
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FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1984
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Rosa Photo
Boston Archbishop Bernard F. Law kneels at the Fall River grave of his predecessor, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros (Other pictures on page 8)
Walesa with bishops in crucifix dispute
WARSAW, Poland (NC) 'Polish labor leader Lech Walesea has joined the nation's 80 bishops in calling for "no compromise" in the struggle against the re moval of crucifIXes from, class rooms and other public buildings. Meanwhile, Poland's school 'authorities moved to put more pressure on students and par ents in Mietno, the center of the dispute which began March 7, .by refusing to allow the stu dents to transfer to other schools. One parent called the govern ment a "nationwide campaign against the children." Walesa. founder and leader of the now-outlawed Solidarity trade union, said in a statement
issued in Gdansk that by taking crucifixes from state classrooms instead of state factories, Po land,s Communist authorities had chosen to attack the weak. The display of crucifixes in state buildings is a common prac tice in Poland although it is against the policy of the Com munist government. The cross is also III popular symbol in the factories and shipyards which gave birth to Solidarity, which at one time was' the only legally recognized labor union in the S'oviet bloc independent of the Communist party. About 94 per cent of Poland's 36 millionpopu lation is Catholic. Walsesa said Poles would use "all means available" to protect
their children and their consci ence in the struggle against the stripping of crosses from class room walls, where they have hung for decades. "There will be no compromise in this case. 'In this case we will make use of all means available. The stakes are our own child ren and our conscience," Wale sa said. Poland's bishops , in a, pastoral letter read in' Sunday Masses April 1 throughout the country, urged Potes "to pray that the cross will be able to stay where believers want it to be:' "It was in the cross that our great visionary poets saw the guarantee of hope and the proof of national identity," the letter
said. "May the cross continue to remain for the Polish nation and the whole world an infallible symbol of fraternity, accord and love based on divine power:' The crucifix is "life's most im portant symbol" and "the most important school aid" in human istic studies in Poland, the letter said. The letter, issued March 30 after a 'two-day meeti:lg of the Polish bishops' conference in Warsaw, endorsed an earlier statement by the bishops' execu tive committee saying crucifixes should be returned to the class rooms. The ,letter referred to the "self-sacrificing and indefatiga ble defense of the cross by its
followers," but did not mention the bread-and-water fast begun March 27 by' Bishop Jan Mazur of Siedlce, the diocese where the Mietno school is located.. Bishop Mazur had expressed his solidarity with students and theil' parents in impassioned ser mons following the stripping of crucifixes .from an agricultural high school in Mietno. On March 27, 'indicating he had been misled by government officials about the terms under which students could return 'to school, the bishop announced he would eat only hread and water as long as the students were "in trouble" with authorities. Turn to Page Six
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