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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 28, 1985
a message as important for those of us in the'West to understand
as it is for our brothers in the East.
Another interesting insight into the Pope's perception of things was buried
deep in an article "Pulling in the Welcome Mat" in the May 27, 1985 issue of
TIME. The bulk of the article dealt with the pontiff's recent trip to the
Low Countries:
Perhaps the Pope's most important confrontation was with the Rev.
Henk Huting, chairman of the Netherlands Reformed Synod. Huting
deplored the Catholic Church's ecumenical regression and blamed
it on "instructions from higher authority." Read: Rome. For his
part, John Paul skipped some hard-line passages in his prepared
address, but the text remains the Pontiff's most forthright
statement on his approach toward Protestantism. Discussion of
joint Communion services is futile, he indicated, and Rome is un
willing to explore changes in the nature of the priesthood. The
speech removed any remaining doubt that John Paul now foresees
substantial ecumenical progress only with the Eastern Orthodox
churches.
Counsels of Restraint
As we go to press, the Middle East hostage crisis continues: Apparently
there is considerable behind-the-scenes multilateral diplomatic activity
engaged in an attempt to pry loose the remaining hapless hostages. The dip
lomatic route to freedom seems to be the preferred choice among journalists
these days, with a few·notable exceptions, such as James J. Kilpatrick, who
wrote in his June 21 syndicated column in the SAN DIEGO UNION:
Back in the summer of 1904, kidnappers in Tangier seized an el
derly American citizen, Ion Perdicaris. The responsible party
was well known: A brigand chieftan named Ahmed ben Mohammed
Raisuli, an enemy of the sultan of Morocco. At that very moment
the Republican National Convention was meeting in Chicago.
Theodore Roosevelt was nominated by acclamation. He dispatched
an ultimatum to be delivered in Morocco and read to the conven
tion: "Perdicaris alive, or Raisuli dead!"
Perdicaris was
freed••••
There is but one way to deal with such terrorists. It is to apply
the ancient law spelled out in Exodus 21:23. Let us match "life
for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."
Suppose, to be supposing, that when the terrorists killed their
first victim, and tossed his body from the plane, the Israelis
had chosen one Shiite Moslem at random from the 700 they held as
prisoners. Suppose, then, that this randomly chosen prisoner had
been put to death at once by firing squad, and that proof of the
execution, in the form of a TV tape, were shown to the hijackers.
And suppose this act of summary retribution were accompanied by a
threat: For every American passenger you kill hereafter, we will
kill 10 of your brothers.