Rumanian fact-finding trip concludes (12/30/84)

Rumanian fact-finding trip concludes

WASHINGTON - A human-rights fact-finding team, including Mark Siljander (R-Mich.), two members of the British Parliament, David Atkinson (Conservative Party) and Thomas Clarke (Labor Party), has concluded an eight-day trip to Rumania.

The purpose of the trip, according to the group organizer, the Rev. Jeffrey A. Collins, was to investigate reports of religious repression in that Marxist state and to encourage Christians in Rumania. The Rev. Collins, who directs the U.S. national office of Christian Response International, a legal and spiritual support ministry to persecuted Christians around the world, termed the Rumania trip a "total success."

Group members spoke in Baptist and Pentecostal churches which were having legal problems with the Rumanian government. According to the Rev. Collins, many churches in Rumania have either been demolished by Rumanian authorities or are slated for destruction. In Bistrita, religious services were held on the ruins of the local Baptist church which was bulldozed in November 1984. More than 300 Christians crowded the sight to hear Rep. Siljander and other delegation members express unity with persecuted Christians in Rumania.

While the CRI delegation was not accorded "official status" by the Rumanian government and was denied a visit with President Nicolae Ceausescu, local Communist officials in each of the cities visited met with members of the group and expressed a willingness to discuss frankly and openly the problems confronting Christian churches in Rumania.

The Rev. Collins stated, "We received assurances from city officials in each town visited that churches which had been destroyed by the government would be assisted in rebuilding and that other churches facing demolition because of urban renewal would be given due compensation for their buildings and assisted in relocating to facilities equivalent in size and accessibility.

When Rep. Siljander requested a meeting with the Rev. Gheorghe Calciu, a dissident Rumanian Orthodox priest, the Rumanian Foreign Ministry vehemently objected and threatened to declare anyone who attempted to meet with the Rev. Calciu "persona non grata." The Rev. Calciu was recently released from prison on August 20, after having served five years of a 10-year sentence.

He had previously served more than 15 years in Rumanian prisons because of his religious activities. Since his release he has been held under house arrest in Bucharest.

Other participants in the CRI fact-finding group were Lynn Buzzard, Christian Legal Society executive director; Rick Nelson, director of the House of Representatives Human Rights Caucus; Attorney Cimron Campbell of Concerned Women of America; Cardyn Sundseth, associate director of the White House Public Liaison Office; Col. and Mrs. Glen Jones, directors of Campus Crusade Ministry to the Military; Kentucky State Sen. Gene Huff; and Kentucky State Legislator Tom Riner.

The Rev. Collins said that CRI will continue to closely monitor the situation in Rumania.