Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 11, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba 16 Winnipeg free press tuesday March 11, 1975 food or weapons China s debate Over priorities by Merle Goldman Cambridge mass. Today there is an important debate on priorities going on in the people s Republic of China. Should China divert its resources to developing advanced weaponry against the soviet Union or should China put its major invest ment into the development of its Domestic Economy hints of this debate were revealed by Teng Hsiao Ping Deputy Premier of China in an interview with a delegation of american University presidents during their official visit to China last de Cember. Focus though or. Teng had been vehemently criticized during the cultural revolution he w a s rehabilitated in the Spring of 1973 and assumed the duties of the ailing pre Mier Chou in Lai. When he first re entered the political a r e n a outsiders described him As unsure of himself but during the interview he exuded Confidence displayed an ironic sense of humor and appeared very much in control of events. His position in the debate Over priorities was clearly on the Side of More attention to Domestic priorities rather than to weapons development. He emphasized Over and Over again that although China might possess a few atom bombs it could not afford to compete with the so Viet Union in advanced weaponry because he said if we did we would All have to go to meet he explained that if we made these bombs we could not have enough food to feed ourselves nor clothes to clothe the concern with food was another recurring theme. Though China this year will apparently have a surplus in Grain his concern with Agri cultural production was reflected everywhere we went in China. In the universities and communes the main Effort is to develop new fertilizers and new seeds. He stressed that China would use agriculture As a major Means to develop economi1 Cally because agriculture not Only feeds the population and supplies raw materials for Light Industry but also Gra dually provides capital to in Vest in heavy Industry. Not Only did he see concentration on agriculture As Nec Essary for China but also for the rest of the developing world. In a somewhat Superior manner he pointed out that India and the countries of Africa had proportionately about the same amount of arable land As China but unlike China they did not have enough food to feed their populations. He complained that these countries barely had the most Primi t i v e agricultural tools. If Only they would follow China s example he Felt that within ten years they would have sufficient food and some surplus left Over for in vestment. Again he enunciated another noticeable change in the Model that China is presenting to the rest of the world. It is no longer the Model of revolution and class struggle of the cultural revolution but of economic self sufficiency through agriculture hardly a revolutionary approach. Given these Domestic priorities How does or. Teng answer those in the leadership who say More capital must be put into advanced weaponry in order to protect China against the so Viet Union there is no ques Tion that or. Teng is As hos tile to the soviet Union As any official we met. He acknowledged China criticized both the United states and the soviet Union in its press but he declared that the main danger comes from the soviet in an admittedly exaggerated analogy he described both countries As fat but he said the soviet Union was not As fat As the United states. Consequently it was More nimble and More on the of f e n s i v e than the United states which was Clumsy and on the because of the aggressive nature of the soviet Union he advised the United states to balance its strategic arms upward rather than downward. He implied that China could concentrate on agriculture and conventional weapons be Karl Marx cause it Hopes that the United states will act As the bul Wark against soviet nuclear weaponry. This approach explains in Large part the warm recep Tion Given the american University presidents. Not Only does there appear to be a genuine Reservoir of Goodwill toward the United states but China wants american sup port in its hostility to the so Viet Union. At the very be ginning of his talk or. Teng when Mao meets Marx by Mao tse Tung there Are Many things i Haven to studied. I am a per son with Many shortcomings i am by no Means perfect. Very often there Are times when i Don t like myself. I have not mastered All the various domains of marxist learning. And for example i Don t know foreign languages Well either. I have Only just begun recently to study economic work. But comrades i study with determination and i will go on studying until i die when i die that will be the end of it in sum As Long As i am alive i shall study every Day. Let us All create an environment of study. I think i can learn a bit too otherwise when the time comes for me to see Marx i shall be in an embarrassing fix. If he asks me a few questions and i am unable to answer what will i do he is certainly very inter ested in All aspects of the chinese revolution. I m not very Good either in natural science or engineering. Copyright Stuart Schram 1974 stated that the reason the delegation had been invited was to develop warmer rela t i o n s Between the United states and China. From his analysis of events it was obvious that warmer relations were sought because of fear of the soviet Union and be cause of the desire for Amer ican nuclear support. Merle Goldman accompanied the Dele gation of american University presidents to China. She teaches chinese history at Boston University and is a research associate of the Harvard East asian research Center. Mao tse lung roman Catholic Synod recounting the ballots by Abigail Mccarthy Washington the paradoxical personality of Pope Paul. I often distorts the news of his Church. Like the psal is Given to Public lamentation which evokes the unfortunate tendency to take impious satisfaction in the distress of the mighty. He has the agonizing task in the Winter of his life of rid ing a whirlwind of change of reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable of preserving the Unity of which he is the chief Symbol. He sometimes appeals for sympathy in extravagant terms the Church seems destined to he often seems to Check the trends to which he himself has Given impetus in the Case of the recent Synod of Bishops the ecumenical thrust of evangelization for example and tie shifting of the Center of the Church toward the third All this confuses the picture. T. Now that the Bishops and patriarchs observers and theologians Are Long since Home the recent roman Synod is get Ting better Marks than earlier reports led us to expect. Judged just As an International conference in a year of significant International conferences it seems to have achieved a spirit of collaborative Ness that participants in some of the others might Well have envied. T from a purely practical standpoint this is Good news for everybody. In an increasingly polarized world and a world in which our Points of reference Are veering alarmingly we need our networks especially our benevolent ones. As a human institution the roman Catholic Church is a sprawling decentralized International network for hundreds of millions of humans. The vitality of the Church As reflected in the Synod sur Prises. It May Well be dying As we of the West have known it but even As the Bishops of the first world faced the Prospect of their churches becoming a remnant albeit a saving remnant on a secularized society the Bishops of Africa spoke of a Church growing by leaps and Bounds out distance ing its ministers. The Bishops of Asia looked toward More fruitful co opera Tion with the great non Christian religions a theme struck by Pope Paul in his opening the Bishops of latin America where the Church once seemed tied to oppressive accepting women in the by Paul Moore or. Women priests the phrase gives some people the Shivers. Women priests strange Combina Tion of words conflict of images. The word priest has a Luminous Quality a Mysti que summoning up deep associations the great High priest of some ancient Pagan rite sitting splendid in an exotic tem ple the medieval grand inquisitor sending Joan of arc to the stake Bing Crosby cuddling urchins in going my the holy cure d ars eating raw potatoes As he listens to the confessions of the poor. The word priestess carries even More freight Temple prostitution Pagan Fertility Cults ves Tal virgins. These deep emotional associations and the unconscious linkages be tween sexuality and Reli Gion make it difficult for Church people to be objective about women priests. But the time has come to face the Issue squarely because behind it lurks sexism projected on the very image of god. In the Judaeo Christian tradition arising As it does from a patriarchal society the analogy of god As father has been the most natural and obvious Way by which to in Ter Bret the mystery of being an Ideal father is powerful and Loving just yet compassionate intimately related yet some How set apart. However even the Ade quate image of father is at Best Only an analogy. In the Bible god is also called fire spirit Rock wind and even by analogy to woman. But god As father has Over whelmed these other images. Christians acknowledge Jesus As divine. God s special presence in our human life was As it happened in a Young jewish male living years ago in a Small province in the roman Empire. And so the Christ figure Domi nates Christian spirituality with masculinity. However All jewish and Christian theology de clares the godhead beyond sexuality declares such masculine projections to be merely analogies. Thus for theological reasons it is appropriate to begin to move god s image away from total maleness. Thus a woman standing before a. Holy altar dressed in the ancient vestments o f Christian Priesthood a w o m a n s voice proclaiming the word of god a woman s hand feeding the people of god with the sacrament of holy communion will move the religious Depths of the human psyche in this direction and will help us to comprehend More fully the Rich Vari Ety of god s being. Furthermore the free ing of women in our society for the full potential of their development cannot occur until god is under stood to be As feminine As masculine. For this reason the seemingly unimportant struggle of women to at Tain Priesthood in the Epi Scopal Church has extraordinary implications for and by the same Token the depth and emotional Power of resistance to this movement can Only be understood b y perceiving that it arises not Only from theology but also from the psychic linkage of sexuality and religion. The episcopal Church has been wrestling with this Issue in recent years. In july of 1974, eleven women were ordained priests illegally in Phila Delphia. This ordination cannot be recognized nor can More women be ordained regularly until the episcopal Church nationally moves to do so. Because of the great importance of this move it is essential that it come to pass in a regular fashion. A recent three to one vote by the episcopal Church s House of Bishops makes such legislation Likely in 1976. In the meantime the waiting candidates Are under great pressure to be ordained. The women ordained a canonically last summer Are under great pressure to exercise Priesthood and Many peo ple Are impatient for the talents of these outstand ing women to be used. Understandably Many Church people Are shaken by the Prospect objecting in Good conscience and with much traditional logic in Hurt and anguish. The right Rev. Paul Moore or. Is episcopal Bishop of new York democracy in catholicism by Marjorie Hyer Washington for the first time in the history of the traditionally authoritarian roman Catholic Church in this country Large numbers of people Rich and poor Are being Given a voice in determining policy. Participatory democracy has come to catholicism through the Church s pro Gram for the Bicentennial. Before the process is com p 1 e t e d some 60 Bishops aimed at discovering what the Catholic s Bicentennial theme Liberty and Justice for Means in today s America. If our Celebration of the Bicentennial is going to be a healthy and fruitful one As i am convinced it can be we must take Steps to get beyond the orgy of self congratulation and touch base with our True roots rather a Radical thing to said the Rev. William Davis director of the Jesuit Confer ence of Washington. For three Days last week nearly a dozen Bishops sat on a raised dais Here taking Tes Timony. To the microphone Laden table before them came the Parade of witnesses Statis tics spouting consumer and v o c a t e s who questioned Church policies on Charity Lay theologians who challenged the Bishops lifestyles octogenarians who told of what it s like to be hungry illegal hispanic immigrants who spoke of being hunted by immigration authorities and Catholic women of All Ages who told what it feels like to be female in the most masculine dominated Ameri can institution this Side of a football locker. Witnesses dealing with hunger and poverty at Home and abroad took up Large chunks of the hearings. Florence Sage an octogenarian from it. Rainier md., described a Friend Wilh a monthly pension whose Utility Bill last month jumped to and of another without a pension whose medical Bill comes to a month. The Church author Gary Maceoin said must consider How much of its resources Are spent on service to its White affluent members what on pockets of deprive the Church said the Rev. Phillip Murnion director of pastoral research in the archdiocese of new York must examine the patterns of inequality in Power influence resources and rewards within the Church in our institutional life the unequal place of people of color and women must be Sonya a. Quitslund Assis Tant professor of religion at George Washington University observed that a Rich Church presents a conflicting witness to the world. It is easy for the poor to say if 1 could live like a Bishop i could believe in Christ too she called for a moratorium on All but really Essen tial Church building an end to mandatory priestly celibacy and greater Lay control Over Church financing. The Church was most sharply criticized on the role it Grants women. Most of the witnesses at the hearings were invited by the Bishops s Bicentennial committee. Three minutes before the scheduled end of the hearings a Black woman Nia Kuumba asked to present a statement on the plight of women in prison. Across the Street at the shrine of the immaculate Conception people were wait ing for a. Mass to Mark the conclusion of the hearings. Well just have to make them said John Cardi Nal Dearden of Detroit who chaired both the hearings and the Bishops Bicentennial committee. He offered the woman time to summarize her views and submit the full report in writing As other witnesses had done. When she insisted on being heard in full the Cardinal stayed As Long As he could then kept his appointment across the Street while the most Rev. James s. Rausch general Secretary of the National conference of Catholic Bishops and most of the panel stayed. The criticisms did t Trou ble Bishop Rausch. Reflect ing on the hearings he said my feeling is that we need a catharsis today we need to know where people Hurt. These Are not people who hate the he said of the critics. They came be cause they love the the views brought to last week s panel and the others that will be held around the country will be brought be fore a National gathering in october 1976, in Detroit. The Washington Post institutions emerged As the voices of liberation. If As one theologian put it one sees the Synod As a rare situation in which 200 Bishops of All races and backgrounds met in Quality to Exchange experiences and reflect theologically on the task of the Church it was an event with far reaching implications for the future. The Impact on the roman bureaucracy of the Bishops expressed concerns can Only be guessed at but the exposure was there. If one expected something else a definitive document or a democratic legislative process the Synod was bound to disappoint. The Synod remains a consultative body but a body made up of men increasingly More confident More competent and More in touch with their world. They elected As their interim Council a group of twelve eight from the developing countries among whom were their most voices Stephen Cardinal Kim of Korea for example who demanded that the Church be a voice for the oppressed and excoriated Church people for defending their own institutions but remaining silent when men and women Are oppressed exploited and imprisoned simply be cause they struggle to exercise or defend fundamental human the wonder was not that the Pope ended the Synod by reaffirming his centrality. The wonder was a Pope sitting at lunch with the Bishops a Pope attending almost every ses Sion striving to be As he had asked the Bishops to be. Serenely open to everything Good and valid to be found in the new As a woman i must rejoice that among other things he heard Bishop Joseph Bernardin speaking of the situation in the United states Canada Australia and Oceania and Sug Gesting that the possibility of women As priests be pursued Bishop Paul Verschuren of Finland pointing out that the situation of women there Iii civil society was greatly at Odds with their role in the Church Jesuit Superior general Pedro a Rupe emphasizing the importance and strength of religious women in a position to exercise All the offices and minis. Tries the Church May entrust to the Progress is slow but the voices Are stronger. According to Francis x. Murphy the Synod turned Catho Lic procedure upside Down. The Bishops did not come to con Sider a prepared document but to consider the existential situation of the Church. In doing so they May have Given the aging Pope not just sympathetic support but an effective instrument for shared responsibility. And they in turn in the person of John Cardinal Krol have spoken of the need to find ways to share it with the laity. Like Dorothy Day on Chrystie Street and Mother Theresa in Calcutta the Pope can probably be after All just As sure that his Church As a sign of the transcendent will endure All Abigail Mccarthy is author of private and editor of first Steps in Christian s we have no mileage charge. No mileage charge in most major centres rent a big Beautiful Tilden Cutlass and save a couple of Bucks in the bargain. Featuring the Oldsmobile Cutlass in Canada it s Canada s official olympic car rental service. Reserve ahead. Tilden is everywhere in Canada and has affiliates All Over the world. In the . In s National car rental. Head office 7485 Stanley Street Montreal for reservations Call 942-3525 ;