Beverly Hills Church Cuts Eulogies for CIA’s Casey

“Shocked” by the political overtones of a memorial service scheduled today at a Beverly Hills church for deceased CIA Director William J. Casey, the church’s monsignor has canceled eulogies by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and KABC-TV commentator Bruce Herschensohn.

Msgr. Peter Healy of the Church of the Good Shepherd said he and a friend of the Caseys would conduct “a purely spiritual ceremony instead” and that a disclaimer denying the Roman Catholic Church’s endorsement of the service’s sponsors would be issued to the 300-400 people expected to attend.

The California Republican Assembly, Voice of Americanism and President Reagan’s former political action committee, Citizens for the Republic, are among the organizations sponsoring the private church service to commemorate the World War II spymaster and self-made millionaire tax lawyer who died in early May of pneumonia that developed after brain surgery.

Controversy Over Funeral

The brouhaha over the memorial service follows four days of nationally televised testimony by fired White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, much of which focused on Casey’s central role in the Iran- contra affair, and is reminiscent of the controversy that surrounded Casey’s funeral service. With President Reagan and former President Richard M. Nixon sitting in a front pew, the Roman Catholic bishop conducting the funeral said that Casey’s belief in the moral strength of the Administration’s policies kept the former CIA director from understanding “the ethical questions raised” by his church about defense policy in a nuclear age.

“I was shocked on Thursday to see that the invitation had this list of sponsors and said that in lieu of flowers, donations could be sent to the William J. Casey Fund for Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters,” Healy said. “It went against the specifications we had laid down when we agreed to have the service.”

Healy said he acted after consulting with leaders in the archdiocese, including Archbishop Roger M. Mahony.

Father Don Kribs, chairman of the Peace and Justice Committee of the Los Angeles Priests’ Council, said the church could not allow the Beverly Hills service to proceed as planned because the administrative board of the U.S. Catholic Conference has endorsed a resolution condemning aid to the contras as immoral. Kribs said church officials only found out about the nature of the service late in the week.

Organizers of the event, who said it was intended solely to provide Casey’s West Coast friends and supporters with an opportunity to remember him, said Antonovich and Herschensohn will deliver eulogies anyway, at a undisclosed location. A U.S. Marine color guard from Camp Pendleton will present Casey’s wife, Sophia, who is visiting from New York, with an American flag, said Esperanza Cooney, one of the organizers. Mrs. Casey is also expected to attend the service.

Cooney said the location of the non-religious ceremonies will remain a secret because she fears a protest by “long-haired people with long faces who have nothing to do but go from rally to rally.”

A group opposed to U.S. aid to the contras, the Southern California Ecumenical Council Interface Task Force on Central America, is planning to hold a prayer vigil outside the church, executive director Mary Brent Wehrli said.

‘No Political Intent’

“I resent the interference in what was supposed to be a private affair,” said John Cooney, Esperanza Cooney’s husband and a self-described activist in conservative causes. “There was no political intent involved, although it’s hard to refer to Casey’s accomplishments without being political. After all, you can’t refer to how the man treated his dog.”

In the text of a homily Antonovich released Friday, he lauds Casey as “a leader who took a demoralized, compromised and ineffective intelligence agency and increased its strength, its morale and its intelligence-gathering capabilities. Through his efforts, the CIA has been able to provide aggressive support for freedom fighters in Afghanistan, in Angola, Southeast Asia and yes, in Central America.”

The text also says that “because of William Casey, freedom today has a fighting chance throughout the Third World.”

Antonovich had not been informed as of Saturday afternoon about any changes in arrangements and plans to attend the service, said his press deputy, Dawson Oppenheimer. Herschensohn could not be reached for comment.

Disappointed by Decision

Another of the memorial service’s organizers, Carl Olson, said he was disappointed by the church’s decision to cancel Herschensohn’s and Antonovitch’s eulogies.

“It bothers me quite a bit,” said Olson, who is chairman of the Fund for Stockowners’ Rights, a nonprofit group that encourages corporations to fight for world freedom. “It seems to me that the Catholic Church should be supportive of this because it is really being suppressed and harassed in Central America.”

Staff writer Laurie Becklund contributed to this story.