Padre Andre Trevathan Two men in clerical garb stood on the naval beach of Vieques watching with growing concern as U.S. sailors roughed up two protesters. Episcopal priest Andre Trevathan and Catholic Bishop Antulio Parrilla-Bonilla had flown to the island of Vieques, off the east coast of Puerto Rico, to conduct a quiet ecumenical service in the fishing town of Esperanza. Instead, they found themselves swept into an act of civil disobedience protesting the U.S. naval occupation of Vieques. They were persuaded to join a flotilla of fishing boats which landed on the naval territory of Blue Beach. Some two hundred demonstrators were setting up tents in preparation for occupation of the beach. There was barely time for a brief religious service by Padre Andre and Bishop Parrilla before two truckloads of armed Seabees descended upon them. Two of the demonstrators, Angel Rodríguez Cristóbel (later assassinated in his cell at Tallahassee Prison) and Ismael Guadalupe (a high school teacher) were taken onto a navy ship. Concerned for their safety and that of others, Padre Andre and Bishop Parrilla decided to accompany them. They soon found themselves under arrest at Roosevelt Roads Naval Base, running the gamut of fingerprinting and mug-shots. They were then locked up in cells at the Federal Court Building. By 4:30 in the morning, they were released under their own recognizance, subject to one year's probation. Others got off less easily. Twenty-one were arrested at random and incarcerated in United States prisons. This experience was a first for the tall, graying Padre Andre, then in his twentieth year in Puerto Rico. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he later moved with his parents to Kentucky. Following the faith of his parents, he attended University of the South, an Episcopalian university in Sewanee, Tennessee. Later, studies at a seminary in New York prepared him for the priesthood. A vacation trip to Puerto Rico persuaded him to remain, serving in various churches throughout the country, and developing his fluency in Spanish. As we were camping in the Villa Sin Miedo community, then located on Episcopalian land, we had plenty of opportunity to visit with him in the diocesan office in Saint Just. He was serving, then, as Vicar for Pastoral Affairs, and conducting services at Guaynabo. We questioned him as to whether the separation of the Puerto Rican Episcopal Church from that of the United States was not one step in the direction of independence. "Don't speak of independence," he warned with a smile. "Call it, rather, autonomy." Though he himself supports independence, some of the Episcopalian clergy favor commonwealth or statehood. The movement towards separation began at the initiative of the Puerto Rican church. Having already succeeded in 1964 in being assigned a Puerto Rican bishop, Bishop Reus Froylán, further nationalization was in order. Bishop Reus, though not amenable at first to the concept of separation, found on attending a conference of the House of Bishops that they were concerned only for United States problems. He then saw the need for Puerto Rico to develop its own stewardship, encouraging lay members to take leadership in coping with local problems. By 1979, legal separation was realized, but still with 50% dependency on financial help from the United States. Asked about the possibility for independence, Padre Andre is not optimistic that it can come about within the next ten years. Armed violence, he feels, is out of the question for Puerto Rico. Though there could possibly be no alternative but revolution in Central American countries, where wholesale cruelty runs rampant with complete disregard for human life, there would not be such popular support for revolution in Puerto Rico. As for guerilla warfare in Puerto Rico, it was not able to succeed in the October Revolution of 1950, he points out. The United States, well aware of the situation, took immediate and decisive action to quell the attempt at liberation. The problem, he feels, lies in what he calls "bond servants" mentality. Through five hundred years of colonization, Puerto Ricans tend to turn to the "Big House" or the boss, to form an opinion, lacking self-confidence in their own power to make decisions. A mentality of dependency holds on to fears that, as a small island, Puerto Rico would be unable to sustain itself without outside help. Constant repression and harassment of independentistas create fear of taking a stand. Though secretly desirous of independence, many people doubt its viability, and fear to give expression to their desires. Independence groups are diverse, with little of the interaction necessary to bear great influence. Diverting from his native tongue, he greeted the arrival of his son in fluent Spanish and then was off to Villa Sin Miedo. He played a supportive and protective role there, always ready to come to their rescue in case of harassment or problems. Padre Andre has since returned to the United States. He will be sorely missed in Puerto Rico, where he had established a beautiful feeling of rapport with the Puerto Rican people and concern for their rights.