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When Right Goes Wrong

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When Right Goes Wrong When Right Goes Wrong By Russ Bellant National Catholic Reporter. November 18, 1988 The Cast: Ralph Martin, the Nicaruguan Contras, Steven Clark, the Roman Curia, Tom Monoghan Big Buisness Umberto Belli, and the CIA $1.00 IWHEN I Ir---------- I i SECRECY OON'TTELL . 'rr~A.B GOD SPEAKS TO YOUR LEADERS ONA SURPRISINGLY FREQUENT BASIS. A WORLD TO WIN ~------------~7GOESwaONG VVGrd of God network wants to 'save the world' Martin began to introduce changes and njght-wing alliance impose procedures that would expand and grow to this day. They created "coor- dinators" (leaders), district subgroups includes curia, called "subcommunities" (later called "districts") and a formal initiation Pre- big business, cess for membership. Each member was expected to make a "public commitment" contras and CIA to the group, entering into a new "cove- narrt." Leaders thus began to describe the ~ IllTi.-:trwtic reneural, OTl(' or the more word of God ax a "covenant Christian '[ . ::!rtn ifi'stu.tions o(ChristiunilY ijifl("{' community." :;;. 1\ '(!lIC(lfI council, came alive 'in the "From that point onward," says former .' " i:cII Stoff's ill the late 1960s. It is ajoy- member Tom Yoder, "coordinators had ,J/ I -vncrnent u:huse adherents pro)' and increasing control. By mid·1972, they -:: ~ ::nd inn)He the fXJu'.'CTO{GrXi'S Spirit had total control." Other former mem- ·,,1 , t'cling and holiness. bers corroborate this (most informants in ;":1(' Word O(C;;x1II.'Q:o>ne of the earliest this story asked to remain anonymous for l' -) charismatic groups. The record fear of unspecified retribution). ~h j .:«, iuncecer, thut its members speak Ongoing explorations by Martin and .n ~'ifj('r('nt tongues and pursue higher Clark had led them toward this tighter : -: (:Iiulls than charismatics generally. authority. Around 1972, they were intro- i t!v, orrr the past 21 ycars, the ~'v'();d duced to the practice of "shepherding" or ; IIi has deviated from its origins to dis- "discipleship." This is essentially a doc- all die classic dements ofa cult. trine of control that causes members to J': ;w:': a/so created a far-flung network become obedient in ever larger areas of . i, Ie aim is to SOU? the world. To do this. their lives, ". • 'embers feel, it must first do battle With it went a growing lexicon of ter- ;'/: ~ the u-orld's enemies and eventually minologies defining authority. The Won! '111 (ll'er them. To this end, it has ai· of God developed layers of authority. !tself Leith conservatice elements in Members submit control of their lives to . ;i~ ! ·.S. church and in the Roman curia, a "shepherd," who in turn is submitted to , /, 1 ri~hl·ll!ing activists that include a higher "shepherd," who again is sub- ':i i rugu an contras, their U.5. support- mitted to yet a higher "shepherd," At the :he CIA and coneercative business pinnacle was Clark (today it's Martin), .:..-'I.L'e Ii'ith (I ioidc range of radical agcn- the "overall head coordinator." The st.ruc- '/(1 turebns been compared by some to the (Continued on next page) lh I\uSS BELLANT :--:'p",-:,alto the National Catholic Reporter De-tr-oit :CTEVE CLARK and Ralph Martin "Xt;" t; two busy young Christians in the Secretive Puebla Institute has ties ,~"h, They worked at the Newman Center of Michigan State University in East ~, TheY""""""Iso'biithe see- • toCI~reentras;-conservative bishops l •.-t.c i.u of the Cursillo movement. They imraersed themselves in the charismatic rev i~·al that hit Duquesne and Notre Dame universities in 1967. 'Cloak-and-dagger' Davis, for example, denied that Belli the funding, editing, production and dis- They were fired from the Newman lived in the house of Won! ofGod member tribution of the book. Ceder when the chaplain discovered style marks Jim Berlucci. Since this reporter had al- In a letter to NCR on the origins of tht·y were also involved with the funda- ready met Belli's wife and daughter (who Belli's book, Chamorro states: "In Janu- memalist Protestant Campus Crusade did not pretend to hide their identities) at ary 1983, a group of directors of the FDN tor Christ. so-called human the door, Davis, who had pledged to and CIA agents who (had) been meeting Iu November 1967, Clark and Martin remain "single in the Lord" in a Word for the purposes of organization and de- called a meeting in their apartment of rights group of God subgroup, claimed the wife and velopment of projects discussed the idea fewer than a dozen people, from which daughter were his. of funding Mr. Belli to write a book ... to· the ,Word of God charismatic group By RUSS BEUANT This shroud of secrecy is spread over discredit the Sandinista governrnent . .. heg:in. It grew to more than 100 people in Special to the National Catholic Reporter every maneuver of Puebla and its parent We proposed that Mr. Belli's work should Detroit the first four months and 1,000 in seven organizations. be funded, and the CIA gave the money." vears. There are now more than 1,600 THE PUEBLA INSTITUTE promotes In an interview, Chamorro said the adr: 1, members. Their sway, however, ex- itself as a Catholic human-rights organi- book was printed at a CIA printer in ceed-, these numbers. Through a sub- zation, Since the day it opened, however, Miami, although he wasn't able to re- ,,;djry organization, the Sword of the it has operated in a curiously cloak-and- In January 1983, a member its name, In his letter, he added Spi-i t, they control an international net- dagger way, that "the CIA also paid for the transla- work of an estimated 20,000 members, One reason may be that its ambitions group of directors tions to put it into English and other lan- who/toe tentacles in turn reach and affect are higher than its stated aims, reaching guages.ln a meeting (at which) I was pres- the 'spiritual and even the social and out to engage such diverse players as CIA of the FDN and CIA ent, the budget was approved and dis- pol.ncal lives of millions of people. operatives and contra leaders, conserva- cussed with a public relations finn (If I'ress accounts and fanner members tive Catholic prelates and rich business- agents ... discussed Miami, which was going to do the work," describe the Word of God in the late men who prefer to keep BOrneof their the idea of fLinding In separate interviews last year, Belli I%0, as unstructured, open, egalitarian business secret. and Davis denied Chamorro's assertions. and loose-knit, focused on a weekly Another reason may be the fact that Mr.Belli to write Belli said he has receipts to prove he paid cha nsrnatic prayer meeting. Most early Puebla is a front, an "action center," for for the book's printing but declined to male members, including leaders Martin the Sword of the Spirit, which in turn is a book to discredit provide such documents or name the and Clark, were conscientious objectors directed by the Won! of God. a charisma- printer, insisting it was a "private" mat- to the Vietnam war. A 1977 letter to tic group with the characteristics of a cult the Sandinista ter. In June 1985, Belli told the Min- members described the early period as (see above story). government. neapolis Star and Tribune he "paid a "limited mostly to finding a personal re- The president of the Puebla Insti- company in Michigan for printing the lauonship with tbe Lord and sharing tute, since its 1982 opening near Ann book," wit h others in charismatic worship. The Arbor, Mich., has been Humberto Belli, a A December 1984 letter sent by Davis main opportunities to serve were in Nicaraguan who had previously been Belli's hook to the Canadian branch of .Iesus to the thirlh"S such as setting up chairs for editorial-page editor of Managua's right- One of the first Puebla projects was Communist World, a Ll.Si-based anti- pra ser meetings. sharing words of en- wingLa Prensa newspaper. publication of, Belli's first book, Nica- communist group, says, however. that coumgement with one another and local The original directors of Puebla were ragua: Christians Under Fire. No print- "the 400 books for the Canadian gover-n- evangelizing." all Word of God members, as was Belli's er or publisher is identified in the book. ment will be shipped directly from the For three years, Won! of God activities aide, Joe Davis. Those involved went to According to former anti-Sandinista printer in Miami." were conducted in this informal fashion. sometimes absurd lengths to keep the National Democratic Front (FDN) leader (Continued 011 page 201 In September 1970, however, Clark and Puebla-Won! of God connection secret. Edgar Chamorro, the CIA was involved in National Catholic Reporter November·18.'lQOO5 WCn! accompanied by calls for "spiritual ln u 1~':)7 lIwding, Won! uf{;nd HWIll' 111 the l~n·j·1l1l'IItO till' t·I)Ordlllaltll: warfare," according to Word of God docu- bcrs were encou ragcd "to set:' oursclves ns wrote. -A series or 12 teachings on t ln Word of God ments and for-mer members. The roles of a nation {t:mpt~a!'is in or'iginai I.~ Thcv wor-ld nnd the- kingdom of God wc r, men and women ",:,erc redefined. dcnYl11g wurt- 1.t,IJ, "For us, :r1~/I. there is no dist inc. giVt'll at (;t.'IlI'ral Community (;alh'·I·IIH~ women leadership positions except OVH t ion between "miht.ary.' 'civilian' and to begin the chanl:!"e~ in our lives." 'Ill!" t Corui nued from previous page) other women.
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