Managua priest falls foul of Cardinal Obando

by Peter Stanford THE clash between the Sandinista government and the Nicaraguan hierarchy has claimed another victim.
Franciscan Fr Uriel Molina has been asked by his superiors to embark on a "sabbatical year" of study outside Nicaragua after Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, Archbishop of Managua, asked the order to "resolve the conflict" with the priest.
Fr Molina, who heads the Antonio Valdivieso Ecumenical Centre in Managua, described friction between himself and the cardinal as "more idealogical than dogmatic". He said that he rejected the idea of leaving the country, but a final decision on his fate would be made by the Franciscan Vice-Provincial in Guatemala in consultation with Rome.
Fr Molina, in an interview with an American news agency, expressed the hope that a compromise might be achieved which would allow him to remain in Nicaragua.
The Valdivieso Centre "operates within the theology of liberation" according to the Rev Jim Goff, an American Presbyterian minister who works there. Mr Goff added that the centre was a "critical supporter of revolutionary social change".
Contacted in New York during a visit there, Cardinal Obando Bravo refused to zomment beyond saying that he was doubtful if Fr Molina would leave the country.
Fr Molina, explaining his Jesire to remain in Nicaragua, 'aid that he wished to be near to his 80-year-old mother who
"has a rather delicate health", and that he wished to carry out his priestly duties and remain with his people "through this war' with US-backed "contras".
Talking to the American news agency, NO News, Fr Molina said that his conflict with the cardinal began in 1979 with the triumph of the Sandinistas, but intensified during Pope John Paul's visit in 1983.
"The Pope maintains that II am the head of a so-called 'popular church'," Fr Molina said. The confrontation became heated when Bishop Bosco Vivas Robelo, auxiliary in Managua, accused the Valdivieso Centre of writing a pro-Sandinista document. The accusation was followed by a heated exchange at which priests of the diocese loyal to the cardinal accused Fr Molina of being a "spy" for the Sandinistas.
However, Fr Molina rejected charges of disloyalty to his bishops. "It is not my intention to appear as a rebel to the bishop" he said. "I am not going to be disrespectful to the wish of the cardinal because he is my superior in my parish".
Four priests who have chosen to remain as members of the popular Sandinista government againt the wishes of the bishops have been suspended a divinis by the Vatican.
*For the first time since two Maryknoll nuns were raped and murdered by Salvadoran soldiers in 1980, the Americanbased order has decided to assign priests to El Salvador. At the invitation of Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Dames of San Salvador three priests and one associate are to assist in his diocese.