Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1979)
.1 " ' v"'' ' - i L ft : ... 1 Jf1 Covered past six pontiff Reporter compares popes Photo by Tom Gnsnw The pope celebrates the Eucharist with the crowd, Dy Tom Gcssncr DES MOINES-A Vatican correipondent for the largest newspaper in Italy said that Pope John Paul II differs from his pre decessors because he is "a man of the field." Ysband Hlddes Galema, 71 , is a reporter for the Amsterdam Telegraaf, which has a circulation of 800,000. Galema has been a reporter for 50 years, has lived in Rome for 20 years and has covered six different popes. "Pope John Paul II was never in the Vatican like the other popes were. That is the biggest difference, Galema said. Galema said Pope John Paul II had his own parish for 38 years, and it was there thai he learned how to talk to people. "He speaks slowly, lie pauses; the people have to think of what he Is saying." Galema said Pope John Paul II was an actor in Poland, and often took part in Polish plays. Galema said that this Is what makes him "a man that comes over." "A good preacher must be a good actor to keep the people awake in church." Galema said that no matter where the pope goes people come by the millions to see him. "When he has said his words, something remains in the hearts of the people." "The pope is in the middle of the inter est of the world. Because of his personal ity. He is very well organized," Galema said. Because the pope is the head of the Vatican State, "When he goes out of state he becomes a country, and Italy is respon sible for him, as well as the other coun tries." Galema said that there are many prob lems in the Catholic Church, but that the pope "knows what to do." The pope must first say something to change things, according to Galema. Television cameras film Protestant family pilgrimage By Alice Hrnicek DES MOINES-Their three mile pilgrimmage started out like that of others who walked to Living History Farms to see Pope John Paul II. The group of 10 woke up at 5 a.m. to prepare for their hike from the home qf John and Sharon Dixon in Clives, a suburb of Des Moines. They proceeded as planned at 1 a.m. down the outside steps of the gray-framed split level house to the sidewalk for the long walk ahead. The only part they had not originally planned was to be greeted outside by a reeling NBC camera and film crew. The Dixon's and two other families were chosen by NBC television to be the subject of the Oct. 1 "Prime time Sunday" a show broadcast weekly. "We decided by Sunday night people would be tired of seeing the pope said Bill Fredh, a sound technician and part of the two-man crew who filmed the families. TO ADD VARIETY, NBC chose to highlight the .ex periences of people involved with the visits of the pope. The crew also followed a policeman in Boston and a 17-year-old Catholic high school student in New York, Fredh said. Originally selected by the network was Sharon's niece, Jackie Barton. Jackie was recommended by the United Methodist Church in Des Moines. Joining Jackie and her husband Gary and their two children, John, 13 and Michelle, 10, were the Dixons and their children, David, 10, and Melanle, 8, and friends Gary and Kathy Grauerholz of a southern Iowa farm west of Des Moines. Fredh said NBC filmed a Protestant family because the Midwest is a largely Protestant area. The Dixons belong to St. John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines. "The people from NBC were wonderful," Sharon said. "They were lust good friends, not your stereotype of snooty journalists." Although retakes and resetting stretched the journey to three hours, Sharon reported that NBC made every effort to accommodate them. FILMING BEGAN Wednesday night, with the family watching the late news. The crew arrived late because they had been delayed at LaGuardla Airport in New York four hours because of a rainstorm and the arrival of the Pope, Fredh said. When filming resumed in the morning, the group had to step out the door several times before crew men were satisfied. "One shot had to be done five or six times" Kathy said. The shot was one of. the families crossing the two way street, Hickman, to join the large crowd. "They filmed us talking to one another on the way " Sharon said. They sang "He's got the whole world in his hands" for a mile while cameramen ran ahead. Being under the spotlight did not bother the family, she added. As a manager of a 1900-stylc house at Living History Farms she said she had been photographed a lot. She was quick to note that her employment -at the site of the Pope's visit had nothing to do with being chosen by NBC. "They didn't know anything about it," she said. The cameramen stored their 700 pounds of equipment in a room at the Sheraton Hotel, across the street from the farms. As soon as the group reached the grounds, they crowded into the room to get ready for further filming. Sharon said that being Lutheran made no difference in her attending a Catholic affair. "1 wouldn't miss a histor ical event as it happened," she said. After the long day, the families returned to the house of the Dixon's for a brief supper. Their worn faces made it apparent that no one would object to collapsing in bed early. The family treated the two crew men as members of the family, as they spent both Wednesday and Thursday nights at their home, as tired as the rest. A neighbor of the Dixon's baked a cake for the crew. A party with the three families sprawled in front of the television was planned for the Sunday night broadcast as a fitting conclusion for the excursion, Sharon said. "With all of us together it just all fell into place," she said. Pope shares communist experience with refugee families By Mike Sweeney The Southeast Asian Refugees attend ing Pope John Paul II's mass in a Des Moines alfalfa field stood in the twilight zone between tradition and innovation. Some wore the colorful dress of their native land; others clutched at American -made coats and jackets to keep out the autumn chill. Some ate rice, their native staple crop; others ate American snacks and washed them down with carbonated soft drinks. . And some were converting from tradi tional ancestral worship to another religion rich in tradition-Roman Catholicism. Father Paul Nguyen-Van Than, who helped 300 Des Moines-area refugees organ ize a twomile pilgimmage to see the pope, said many attending the papal mass were nonatholics learning a new religion. SEVERAL OF the refugees were Hmong, a people from the mountains of Laos who make offerings, often of food, to their ancestors, Than said. The Hmong have found parallels in Roman Catholicism that ease their con version, he said. They have been impressed with the Catholic offering of sacraments, Than said. "They can offer praise for the souls of their parents and grandparents in the Catholic context of the Eucharist. About ten Hmong families in Des Moines are learning Eng!i& and attending religious classes as part of their conversion, he said. A Kansas City, Mo. native, Than visits Des Moines refugee families through the invitation of the Catholic Council for Social Concern. FOR THE HMONG, as well as refugees from Cambodia, Loas, and Vietnam, the pilgrimmage began before 6 a jn. Thursday in the parking lot of a Des Moines shopping center. Than said they pilgrims planned to leave early to get as close to the pone as possible. Pope John Paul was not scheduled to arrive in Des Moines until early afternoon. They carried welcome banners printed in their native languages. .Their two-mile walk in the pre -dawn darkness took them down dimly-lit streets, past National Guard security officers, a drug store, and a motel to the hilltop altar overlooking Living History Farms. For the non-Catholics among the refugees, the pilgrimmage offered a chance to meet a man of great spiritual power, Than said. "NON-CATHOLICS know the pope is a head of state with so much spiritual power " he said. "He has so much influence-that doesn't apply just to Catholics but to all the people of the world. However, most of the refugees were Catholics, he said. They found soiritual strength to the visit of a wte4iairedt broad-shouldered Polish pope. "This pope comes from a Communist country,' he said. "In many ways they (Polish Catholics) suffer in the same ways they (refugees) suffered tn their country ." The mutual suffering has led to a spirit ual bond between Polish and Southeast Asian Catholics, he said. Than said some of the refugees were forced to flee twice from Communist per secution. When the Communists took over North Vietnam in 1954, a million Catholics moved south. When the South Vietnamese government collapsed 20 years later, they had to flee again. The fall of South Vietnam not only broke up families and exiled many Catho lics, but also prevented Than from return ing to Southeast Asia. Than, 35, was born in Laos. His parents, farmers who originally lived in North Viet nam, spent one year there before moving to the Nongkhai province of Thailand. He came to America in 1968, studied philosophy, and was ordained a priest in 1975. Than said he had planned to return to Southeast Asia to preach as soon as he was ordained, but "the whole thing col lapsed, so I stayed." v . . 4 - ' ,ti t . '-" i ' it "ft 0 & Photo bf Tom C Western Nebrt&iss joiaed with the ctwtf to takte "Loci live the Pope.
