Greenpeace exposed: Icelandic journalist Magnus Cudmundsson at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. The film is available from Magned Film in Iceland. INEL EBR-II is the key U.S. facility for fast breeder experiments and has provided 2 million MWh of power for INEL. NEWS BRIEFS 21st CENTURY July-August 1989
Honest to Cod, I don't believe in sorcery, nor in witches, talismans, or mascots; but I do have regard and even reverence for signs and symbols. The words I say or write, aren't they the exterior signs of my interior feeling and believing? Similarly, a cross over a church, an altar, or a tomb—do they not remind many people of a God who chose to die on a cross with arms outstretched to signify His lasting embrace to mankind, whom He so strongly wanted to be close to the love of the one Father in heaven? These are the reasons why, when I went to Russia as a missionary in 1959, I had planned to give every Russian with whom I had personal contact one of the little crosses that I purposely had had blessed here in Rome personally by the Pope. In Moscow, some of those little crucifixes that I gave to certain people had been gratefully acknowledged with some present in exchange. For example, a student got in contact with me the day after I gave him a crucifix, and asked to meet me in an isolated place; it was not prudent to be seen with a Catholic priest from Rome. The student brought a friend who asked, as a favor, for one of the crosses "blessed by the Pope of Rome." In exchange, he gave me a Russian crucifix handed down from generation to generation. No matter how fondly I cherished that Russian souvenir during the following 10 years, the time came when I felt that it was my duty to give it up in favor of the nearby gentle luminary of the Earth's nights. Oh no! I did not feel such a friend of the Moon to deprive myself of an object that was so dear to me, both for what it meant to my religious faith and Father Giovanni Garbolino, whose missionary work has taken him around the world, is a member of the Missioni Consolata in Rome. VIEWPOINT The Cross That Went to the Moon Father Giovanni Carbolino for its significance as a Russian gift. The idea of sending that cross to the Moon was twofold: first, to enhance the technical prospect of success of this "out-of-this-world" enterprise (in view of the beneficial impact that has on the human mind); second, because of the very connotation of a "plus" that the cross has in the area of mathematics as well as scientific thought. The package containing the Russian crucifix was sent special delivery to [Apollo 11 astronaut] Col. Edwin E. Aldrin in Houston, accompanied by a letter. It was followed, a few days before the Apollo 11 voyage, with a telegram, wherein I recommended "not to forget the meaningful little cross." The Russian cross was not left on the surface of the Moon, as I had requested. Aldrin wrote me in a letter that my wish was unfulfilled because, "We were only able to leave on the Moon a limited number of specially authorized items." But the return of my Russian cross was followed soon after by an envelope, wherein I found, as Aldrin's personal souvenir, a "little crucifix," flown to the Moon aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft Eagle, which landed on the Moon July 20, 1969. The story of the little cross that was on the Moon does not finish here, however. It was given to the most Reverend Cardinal Carol Wojtyla (now Pope John Paul II) on the occasion of his name's feast day, Nov. 4, 1974, as "an homage to his missionary spirit" and his cooperation with my Order's mission enterprise in Tanzania. When he became Pope, he entrusted the lunar cross to the Cracow diocesan museum, where it can be seen by visitors. The story of the little cross came again to my mind during my last visit to Russia in 1979, when I was surrounded and searched by the KGB at Moscow airport. They confiscated copies of The Imitation of Christ, the Gospel, and religious images, and they took my picture as a criminal, guilty of "smuggling religious material." The lunar cross remains the symbol of the real ecumenical brotherhood for which John Paul II continues to be, on the order of Christ, the supreme promoter. The little white cross that went to the Moon, sent by Edwin Aldrin to Father Giovanni Garbolino. It is displayed here with the letter from Aldrin, a picture of the Moon, and the U.S. flag. 6 July-August 1989 21st CENTURY VIEWPOINT
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