Polish Cardinal hits at regime

CARDINAL STEFAN Wyszynski, Primate of Poland, accused the Polish government of reducing the Poles to a "nation of beggars", during a Christmas sermon in his Warsaw cathedral.
Reports reaching Rome state that the Cardinal's talk was one of the hardest-hitting he has ever made and that his words indirectly charged the regime with exporting produce needed by the people so as to restore the country s finances.
These reports say that the Cardinal recalled the "humiliating scenes in Warsaw on Christmas Eve" when interminable queues formed in front of stores "as though we were a nation of beggars, in which it was necessary to queue for hour after hour to get a little to eat."
Cardinal Wyszynki's pastoral Advent letter stated that in this was "to be seen a precise
Rhodesia priest faces trial
Fr Paul 'Egli, a Swiss missionary working in Rhodesia, is to face trail on January 10 on a charge of aiding guerrillas. Fr Egli, a Bethlehem Father, has been released by Rhodesian security forces after being held in detention for 30 days. political intent in everything that we (the Church) does, while for us all that counts is the life of human beings, of the people, of the families, of the spirit and the Peace of God."
The pastoral letter continued: "The Polish bishops and priests only wish that our country should know better and more tranquil times, that no more wailing voices are heard, that no one be beaten, persecuted or ill-treated, that the truncheons be left in cupboards and armouries."
Lebanon priest asks for our prayers
FR RONALD ROBERTS, aged 68, who has worked for more than 20 years in the Labanon, wrote to the Catholic Herald this week asking for prayers for his own work with the deaf and dumb and for a peaceful solution to the present crisis in the Lebanon.
"Never, never, never would I have dreamt that I should see such horrors. but we have had every day a tangible proof of Almighty God's love and protection," said Fr Roberts.
'there has been no post in or out of the Lebanon for more than 19 months, and Fr Roberts' letter was brought to England by a Sister of Jesus and Mary returning home.
Ecumenical service in Glasgow
A Catholic archbishop and the head of the Church • of Scotland (Presbyterian) are to preach on consecutive Sundays at Wellington Parish Church, Glasgow, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January. In a step that is still unusual in Scotland despite the progress made by the ecumenical movement in recent years, Archbishop Thomas Winning of Glasgow, Scotland's most populous Catholic diocese, and the Rt Rev Thomas Torrance, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, are to preach in the Church of Scotland church.
In the past in Scotland during Unity Week and on other occasions, extremist Protestant fringe groups have disrupted such services.