Word: clergymen
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This was the scene last week at the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Christmas visit by four clergymen. The churchmen were French-born Léon-Etienne Cardinal Duval, Catholic Archbishop of Algiers, and three liberal American clerics: William Sloane Coffin Jr., senior minister of New York City's interdenominational Riverside Church; Thomas J. Gumbleton, Catholic auxiliary bishop of Detroit; and M. William Howard, president of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A...
...Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini had presumably intended the clergymen's visit to answer mounting world fears about the hostages' treatment. But instead the result was a new controversy over the fact that some of the Americans were missing. The militants at the embassy insisted that for security reasons, no more than five hostages could meet with a clergyman at one time. After considerable argument, the clerics split up and conducted eleven separate services. Said Gumbleton: "We sang together, we prayed together and we shared the Eucharist together. I should also say that we wept together." Afterward, the churchmen tallied...
...number of hostages was being argued, the crisis took yet another bizarre twist, this time in Qum. There Khomeini met with six U.S. ministers, apparently under the mistaken impression that they included the three Americans who had visited the embassy. He delivered a tirade against the failings of Christian clergymen and of Pope John Paul II, who has urged that the hostages be released. Asked Khomeini: "Do you know that, with his economic blockade, Mr. Carter intends to let 35 million people die of starvation? Does the Pope know about all this and yet condemn...
...Khomeini who was misinformed: Carter has made no attempt to restrict Iran's food imports. Indeed the clergymen who visited the hostages came away from subsequent meetings with Iranian officials convinced that the Ayatullah is dangerously confused about Western views of the crisis. The clerics wrote him a letter explaining that contrary to the general belief in Iran, the American people strongly support Carter's stand. Said Gumbleton: "We told them they may be misreading the situation, thinking there is a separation between the American people and the Government...
After the four clergymen left Iran, the Ayatullah's Revolutionary Council considered dropping its plans for an international grand jury to investigate U.S. activities in Iran during the 25-year rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The tribunal is intended by the Iranians to arrive at a predetermined verdict: condemnation of the Shah and of the U.S. But some Western diplomats believe that Khomeini would then order the release of the hostages...