Augustana College - Rockety I Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

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6 Introduction The Election of a New Pope The solemn procession neared its completion as 111 scarlet-clad cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church filed two by two into the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. For the second time in two months. Master of Ceremonies. Virgi- lio Noe. stood at his place by the entrance to the palace. As the last cardinal entered he quietly announced. HExtra Omnes e the latin command for all unauthorized per- sonnel to leave the palace. He then set a lock to the palace door sealing the conclave and isolating the cardie nals and staff from any possible interruptions or influ- ences. The stage was set again for the vigil. The world would spend seemingly endless hours watching a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel until puffs of white smoke announced the selection of another pope to shepherd a stunned and restless flock of some 700 million Catholics. After three puffs of black smoke signaling the cardinals' deadlock and seven hotly contested ballots, white smoke finally issued from the chimney. It had been 50 hours since the conclave had begun, and the crowds keeping their night vigil in the square of St. Peter's would wait another hour before seeing their new pope. The attention of the world had been focused on Home for the past two months. it began on August 5. 1978 with the death of Pope Paul VI. at age 80. In the conclave that followed. the cardinals. with Iitte delay, selected Cardinal Albino Luciani. Luciani took the names of his two immedi- ate predecessors, hoping to achieve the wisdom of heart of Pope John. and the preparation and culture of Pope Paul. With his celebrated smile and warmth, Pope John Paul I seemed to be leading the papacy towards a new era of openness and vitality. However, the pressures and the burdens of the great office soon took its toll on the 65 year old pontiff. Pope John Paul I died suddenly on Sep- tember 28, 1978, only 34 days into his papacy. In Spite of the shortness of his reign, John Paul I would leave two important influences on humor and genuine personal warmth, he could capture the love and respect of a di- verse world. Second, he brought the papacy closer to the people by doing away with many of the traditional monar- chical formalities of his office. The second ctoistered conclave took a more profound mood as the cardinals set out to select the second pope in as many months. Their selection served again to con- found the experts as they elected another stranger to the Vatican power circle. Karol Cardinal Wojtyla. Archbishop of Kracow, Poland. was chosen as the 264th pope. For the first time in 455 years. a non-ltalian would sit on the chair of St. Peter. Rome would have its first Polish Pope. John Paul ll. The selection of a pope from a communist bloc country raises many conjectures. Through many years of a tense relationship, the Communist government in Poland has come to respect the new pontift's exceptional skills in leadership and diplomacy. A Polish Pope raises the con- cern on many of the Communist bloc regimes. The Catholic Church is the major opposition to Communism in many of these countries and any resurgence in the Catholic faith could precipitate unwelcomed outbreaks of nationalistic or religious fervorl Elut Vatican sources have moved to allay such fears by reporting that Pope John Paul II's principal goal is to bring new life to the church and does not intend to bring about any situations that will cause outright strife against the communist regimes. Early in his reign. Pope John Paul II spoke on the issue of the church and communism: We are now facing the final confrontation between the church and the anti- church, of the Gospel vs. the anti-Gospel.. at the banks of the Vistula triver in Polandt. It is a trial of not only our nation and church, but in a sense a test of 2.000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all its consequences for human dignity. individual rights. human rights. and the rights of nations.

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Building for a Bright Future The Augustana College campus was alive with con- struction activity during the 197859 academic year as the goals of the $11.7 million Agenda for Leadership program advanced from the blueprint stage to the actual construction phase. The largest campus improvement project resulting from the Agenda tor Leadership campaign was the con- struction of a $3.4 million Coliege Center at the corner of 7th Avenue and 38th Street. Completion of the building was scheduled for September, 1979. in time for the opena ing of the 197980 school year. Old Main, the time-honored symbol of Augustana, un- derwent a $400,000 facelift which inciuded the installa- tion of new bronze aluminum windows and doors. and a general upgrading of all classrooms and offices. In the fall. students and faculty watched with interest as painters rappeled across the dome of Old Main during their ren- ovation of the Quad-City landmark. The dome was paintv ed a weathered copper green and the verticle surfaces were finished in 3 buff color to compliment the dolomite exterior of the building. In the spring. renovation and remodeling efforts were begun on the Coilege Union building and Walberg Hall of Science. The College Union was being remodeled for use primarily by the department of Biology. and Walberg Hall of Science for use mainly by the department of chemis- try.

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Iran: Country in Turmoil A head-on collision in Iran of Eastern and Western cul- tures resulted in an upheaval which toppled the Shah and did serious damage to American interests in the Middle East. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was attempting to transform his backward country into a 20th centuryr Westernized state. In 1978, President Carter urged the Shah to moderate some of the dictatorial controls he had placed on the people. This allowed the Orthodox Shiite Moslems to speak out against the Westernization of Iran. Their leader. Ayatollah Rubellah Khomeini sent tapes into Iran, cailing the people to revolt and set up an Islamic republic. Beginning with protests and demonstrations, the disturbances soon escalated into riots. On October 31, a strike by the refinery workers virtually shut down the petroleum industry. On November 5, the Shah set up a military government to try to restore order to Iran. A shoot-to-kili order after the 9pm curfew got the mobs off the streets. Xenophobia was at a new high as crowds chanted Yankee, Go Home. The 45,000 Americans in Iran kept a low profile, many of them fleeing the country. On December 28. the Shah gave Shahpour Bakhtiar a mandate to form a new civilian government. By early January, alt the schools and universities were closed to prevent the students from congregating. Oil production which was usuatty at 6 million barrels a day, was not even enough to cover the daily need of 750,000 barrels in Iran. Tehran was a city under siege. The electricity was out a part of each day and there were troops with gas masks and tanks in the streets. On January 16. the Shah ieft Iran for a vacationw in the United States. After a 16 year exile, Khomeini returned to Iran and set up a provisional Islamic regime with Mehdi Bazargan as his prime minister. Khomeini supporters set up a govern- ment parallei to that of Bazargan called the Komitehs. ignoring the wisdom of Bazargan, they ordered the ex- ecutions of the policemen ot the SAVAK tsecret police under the Shaht and the top men in the army. In May, they began killing people for moral offenses. The Komi- tehs justified the executions by saying that the revolution must be purified. American foreign policy in the Middle East depended quite heavily on a strong and politically pro-American Iran. The Central Treaty Organization tCENTOt, formed during the 1950's as a buffer against Soviet expansion, was rendered worthless as Iran pursued an anti-Arnerican policy. Since 1968. the Shah had guaranteed freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Tankers carry- ing much of the oil from the Middle East had to pass through this strait on their way to Europe and the United States. Without adequate protection, the tanker route was vulnerable to attack by Palestinian terrorists. The summer of 1979 saw the revolution in Iran change what was once one of the most powerful and stable states in the Persian Gulf region into a country struggling to find itself. Eastern and Western cultures stili clashed. The economy was in near ruin. Factions from both ends of the political spectrum were engaged in a power struggle. The effects of the turmoil were felt outside iran as well. Much of the United States experienced a gas shortage partially as a result of the loss of Iranian oil. American foreign policy suffered the loss of one of our important bases on which our entire foreign policy depends, and the end of the tumult was not in sight, Intruduction 7