Protestants -- Catholics Cooperate
Diocesan Press Service. June 5, 1963 [XI-4]
NEW YORK, --- Protestants and Catholics will cooperate nationally in placing Cuban refugees in homes and jobs, it has been announced.
The agreement followed several conferences between officials of Catholic Relief Services and Church World Service, which are the overseas relief agencies of the two faiths.
Inherent in the agreement, said the Rev. John W. Schauer, is the understanding that Protestants will assume responsibility for the refugees' initial welfare but "will not intrude in any way with regard to the religious beliefs and practices" of Cubans, who are predominantly Catholic.
Mr. Schauer, who is the director of Immigration Services for Church World Service, also said that the joint action agreement provides that Church World Service will inform Catholic Relief Services upon arrival of the individual refugee or family at their resettlement destination.
The Protestant-Catholic cooperative effort grew out of Church World Service's "large backlog of home and job placement opportunities in various parts of the country," Mr. Schauer explained.
"We now have very few resettleable Protestant Cubans who have not as yet been given a home and job opportunity, following a two and a half year period during which thousands were screened and flown to many parts of the country where Protestant churches found a haven and employment for them," he said.
According to Church World Service figures, 13,103 Cubans have come to Protestant relief workers for aid and almost 11, 000 have been resettled.
Of those, the Episcopal Church, through the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, has resettled 40 per cent through "Bishop's Flights" to Los Angeles, Texas, Massachusetts, Newark and Minnesota. These were organized and carried out within the framework of the Church World Service Flights in Freedom.