Rhodesia UDI is condemned by Bishops

"COURTING DISASTER"
CATHOLIC HERALD REPORTER A STRONG condemnation of UDI and a warning that the Smith regime cl in Salisbury was courting disaster by its policies were contained in a joint pastoral issued by the five Catholic Bishops in Rhodesia last Sunday.
The pastoral, issued in all
churches in the country. put
the Catholic Church firmly
behind the stand taken by the other Christian denominations in recent weeks. Now only the Dutch Reformed Church, which is closely identified with the apartheid policy in South Africa, has failed to give moral guidance to its members in this critical time.
The Catholic Bishops' statement, written in strong terms, made three particularly important points: 1 It denied that Mr. Smith's action could be construed as preserving Christian civilisation.
LI It called on all Rhodesians to work out their differences before it was too late.
q It put the Bishops' support t" behind a constitutional solution.
The pastoral, an Advent message, was signed by the five Rhodesian Catholic Bishops — Archbishop F. W. Markall, S.J. of Salisbury; Bishop A. G. Schmitt of Bulawayo; Bishop D. R. Lamont, 0.Carm., of Umtali; Bishop A. Haene of Gwelo, and Bishop I. Prieto of Wankie.
300,000 Catholics
Between them the Bishops represent nearly 300,000 Catholics in a total population of just under four and a quarter million. Of the white population of under a quarter of a million, Catholics number about one in 10, but their influence, say observers, is out of proportion to their numbers.
The last time the Catholic Bishops as a body condemned the policy of white supremacy in Rhodesia was in 1961. But Catholic representatives joined other denominations last April in a joint statement of principle which indicated that no extreme act outside the Constitution could be justified without the expressed consent of the people of the country.
Although many individual priests have been speaking out against the Smith Government, it is understood the delay in
comment from the Bishops was due to their absence at the Vatican Council. All five returned to their dioceses last month when the crisis broke.
In their pastoral instruction, the Bishops accused Mr. Smith of making a "hideous mockery" of the words "Christian and Western civilisation" in giving his reasons for declaring UDI. They said he was toying dangerously with reality in proclaiming Rhodesians were behind the declaration of independence on November 11.
'Courting disaster'
They also charged him with courting disaster by trying to silence Rhodesia's Africans or by offering them temporary palliatives. They said that today's "frightening problem" need never have arisen if all Rhodesians had had the good sense to depend on constitutional means to achieve their ends.
"A vast number of the people of Rhodesia are bitterly opposed to the unilateral declaration of independence," the document stated. "They are particularly angered that it should be stated publicly that this action was taken in the name of preserving Christian civilisation in this country.
"It is simply untrue to say that they have consented by their silence. Their silence 1S the silence of fear, of disap pointment, of hopelessness. It is a dangerous silence, dangerous for the Church, for all of us."
The statement went on: "It is simply courting disaster and building up massive resentment for the years ahead to offer temporary palliatives or to try to reduce to silence the voices of those who speak piteously, pleading against the indignity of being regarded as secondclass citizens, of being governed with mere token representation, of being made to feel that theirs is a permanent position of inferiority with little hope."
• In a statement released on Wednesday t h e Rhodesian Christian Council, representing the Anglican, Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, condemned UDI.