Shouting Match Erupts at Memorial for CIA’s Casey

A memorial service Sunday in Beverly Hills for the late CIA Director William Casey led to a shouting match between opponents and supporters of U.S. aid to Nicaraguan rebels and the two sides had to be kept apart by police.

About 50 people with signs reading “Support the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters” and “Oliver North is Our American Hero” shouted “Communists!” at 150 people across the street who shouted “U.S. Out Of Nicaragua.”

Beverly Hills police officers were on the scene to keep both sides apart and there were no arrests.

The demonstration took place outside the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd, where about 300 people attended the invitation-only service.

Controversy had preceded the service when it was learned Friday that eulogies to be delivered for Casey, who died in May, had political overtones.

The pastor, the Rev. Peter Healy, canceled the eulogies prepared by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and conservative TV commentator Bruce Herschensohn. Healy said he was shocked by the eulogies.

The text of a homily that Antonovich released Friday said: “Through (Casey’s) efforts, the CIA has been able to provide aggressive support for freedom fighters in Afghanistan, in Angola, Southeast Asia and yes, in Central America.”

“It went against the specifications we had laid down when we agreed to have the service,” Healy told The Times.

Herschensohn, before entering the church, said he would honor Healy’s request, but criticized the decision.

“It seems that talking about Casey without talking about politics is like talking about the Pope without talking about religion,” Herschensohn said.

On Sunday, Healy put notices in the pews stating that the memorial service was “a purely spiritual ceremony for Mr. William Casey and a source of consolation for his family. No inference should be drawn that the church endorses the political organizations mentioned in the invitation.”

Among the sponsors listed on the program were the California Republican Assembly, the Voice of Americanism and President Reagan’s former political action committee, Citizens for the Republic.

Also on the program was a suggestion that instead of flowers, donations could be sent to the William J. Casey Fund for Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters.

Father Don Kribs, chairman of the Peace and Justice Committee of the Los Angeles Priests’ Council, said the church could not allow the services to go forward as planned because the administrative board of the U.S. Catholic Conference had condemned aid to the Nicaraguan rebels as immoral.

Carl Olson, who chairs a business group that encourages corporations to fight for world freedom, said he was disappointed by the church’s decision to cancel the eulogies.

“It seems to me that the Catholic Church should be supportive of this because it is really being suppressed and harassed in Central America,” Olson said. “Mr. Casey was a respected member of the church. It was a real slap in the face. The church took a real political stand,” Olson said.