The Generation Gap-WHY? - Herbert W. Armstrong

30 1'/)< PLAIN TRUTH N ovember, 1968
Ooro rhy _ Ambouador College
Po pe Paul speaking shor tly after his arriva l at EI Dor a do a irpo rt, e ig ht miles
from Bo got a , Co lom bia. The Pre sid e nt of Colombia, Carlos L1e ras, is at rig ht
wit h handke rchi ef in pocke t.
heard all over Sout h Am erica. Patriots
and professors, reformers and revolutionaries,
Catholics and - of course­
Castro-type COM MUNISTS are all seeking
a solution.
"SOCIAL J USTICE: ' demand these
oppressed millions. "Social Justice" cry
the Communists, liber al Catholics and
other ref ormers.
An open split threatens the church.
Catholic churchmen, as well as po litical
parti es and leaders, arc divided over
how to solve the social ills, woes and
sores of society. Cummunism, with great
g littering generalit ies and impossible
promises, propost::s solutions for these
ills. Communism offers change , rapid
change - riolent ch,mge.
The church on the other hand has
always stood on the side of conservatism,
the status quo ... or. some would
say, on the side of the landed gentry,
the "e stablishment.'
the side of the RICH,
In plain terms, on
H owever, an increasing number in
the clergy and church are swinging to
the side of change, even of violent revo-
Iut ion ! For example, last August, 214
"progr essive" Roman Catholics - including
six pri ests and two nuns ­
" captu red" Santi ago' s cathedral, protesting
agai nst the Pope's trip , and crying
for " social justice."
A popular Colombian priest, Camilo
T orres, left his teaching post and reappeared
fighting with an ti-gove rn ment
guerrillas. H e lost. H is death assures
him a high place in the hearts of many
pr iests and lay members as a marty r
for "social justice." \X'hile chatt ing wit h
Colomb ian journalism students and reporters,
I was interrupted by a triumphant
student who proudly spo rted new
copies of Camilo T orres' revol utionary
book, no w being sold openly on the
streets of Bogota.
Radical sentiment has inveigled its
way into very h igh circles. Brazilian
A rchbishop Dorn Helder Camara (professor
at th e Recife Institute of Theology)
is kn own as a maverick. H e says:
" Either the church will ally itself wi th
progressive Forces that demand social
justi ce for the:
enslaved masses [sound
like an earlier maverick named Marx ?J
or it will perish . . : ' More rad ical still
is the position of Uruguayan priest Juan
Carlos Zaffaron i. H e makes no bones
about what he believes : m pp orl VIO ­
LENCE AND REVOLUTION. Small wonder
that more and more laymen pray
for the interventi on of "SAINT e HE
[ Guevarra]" !
Communism is corroding the Catholic
Church in Latin America.
Many more examples could be cited,
but the po int is clear : Latin America is
on the verge of revolution . N o, let me
correct that. LATIN AMERICA IS RE­
VOLTING.
As one reporter told us: "We are in
revolution, but jf it doesn't speed up,
all Soutb America will erupl in armed
revolt." Either it will be "social [astice;"
that is social change, higher wages , less
class dist inction , more responsive government,
democratization of the ru ling
class, weakening of the Spanish-type
nobi lity, closing of the wide economic
gap between rich and poor - in a word,
SOCIALIS M, since capitalism is viewed as
a failure - or IT WILL BE CONTINENT­
\'I;'IDE REVOLUTiON.
N ow back to the papal itinerary.
After an open-car tour along two
avenues lined by nearly 400,000 throng ­
ing devotees, the Pope addressed himself
to the pr oblem of " social justice."
H is eloqu ent words plead for a more
equ itable distribution of riches. In
effect, he asks the rich to voluntarily
make themselves less rich . .. easier said
than done ! Here aga in is revealed the
first and specific pu rpose of coming to
Colomb ia : try to keep the church from
separating internally, from seceding to
Communism.
In Santa Cecilia Parr ish, the Pope
offered mass, then un expectedly visited
two poverty-stricken familie s, entering
into their humble shacks and blessing
them on their dirt floor. Late afternoon:
he officially sanctioned the important
Latin American Episcopal Conference
(CELAM) .
The Pope's final act in Colom bia,
after vigorously defending
the controversial
decision against birth-control
devices, was his blessing of 24 marriages.
U nfortunately, Latin America's