RECENTLY a group of students from St Mary's RC Seminary, Sutton Coldfield, travelled to South Africa House, London, to present a petition, signed by over 900 people including the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, asking that the rights and dignity of all God's people in that land be upheld. The Embassy -refused to accept our petition.
To this end we would like, through your columns, to encourage individuals to write letter of protest to the Embassy.
We suggest the following wording — which is similar to that at the head of our petition: "To The State President Of South Africa, Mr P W Botha. South Africa House, Trafalgar Square, London.
Dear Sir, I appeal to you to work for greater harmony, peace and justice amongst all the peoples of your country. I readily endorse, and urge you to respond in words and actions, to the statement of Pope John Paul II, spoken on August 1985: `Our repudiation of every form of racial discrimination is convinced and total; it is based on the awareness of the dignity common to every person, made in the
r image and likeness of the creator and called to the status of sons and
daughters of God ' Yours faithfully,
Michael Gilligan BA St Mary's College,
Sutton Coldfield