Letter to CEPS on Fr Riebe, March 23, 1998

March 23, 1998 

Most Reverend Jacinto Guerrero Torres
President, Comisión Episcopal de Pastoral Social
Tintoreto 106, Cd. de los Deportes
03710 México, D.F.
MEXICO 

Dear Don Jacinto, 

I write to thank you for your kind letter of February 20 concerning the case of Fr. Loren Riebe and the February 24 hearings conducted on his case before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights.  

As you know, this Conference has repeatedly expressed its concern over his expulsion, beginning soon after it occurred in June of 1995. A delegation of our Conference visited the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, including the parish of Yajalón where Father Riebe ministered, in July of that year and we have continued to press for a satisfactory explanation for his expulsion from the Mexican authorities. 

I am delighted to know of the strong support that the Comisión de Pastoral Social has accorded this case, and I look forward to other opportunities in the future in which our two Commisions may cooperate to strengthen, as you aptly cite, la solidaridad internacional y el bien de la humanidad. 

This letter gives me the opportunity to renew the fraternal friendship of the Synod for America, and to send you my very best wishes. 

Fraternally yours in Christ, 

Most Reverend Theodore E. McCarrick
Archbishop of Newark
Chairman, USCC Committee on International Policy