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Catholic Bishops Condemn US AId to El Salvador

By VVAW

On November 8, 1980, the United States Catholic Conference, a group known for its conservative policies, denounced the right-wing supported violence against the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador and urged the United States Government to withhold military aid and political support for El Salvador's military-backed Government.

In a statement issued in Washington, the Most Rev. Thomas C. Kelly, general secretary of the National Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, said that the Church in El Salvador was being attacked because, "it has embraced the pastoral task of accompanying the people in their hope, in their struggle, and in their suffering."

The Most Rev. Frank J. Harrison, Bishop of Syracuse, in a letter to then Secretary of Sate Edmund Muskie said that, "that military dominated Government enjoys the support of your Administration but not the support of the Salvadoran people. We, along with millions of Christians in Latin America, are not afraid of the wave of change sweeping Central America because that change is rooted in a desire to create more just societies."