By Vanessa Bauza
Havana Bureau

HAVANA · In their strongest criticism yet of the Castro government's imprisonment of 75 peaceful dissidents, Cuba's Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday called the crackdown a throwback to "methods used during the early years of the revolution" while reiterating the church's independence from the opposition movement.

Written in the cautious language of the church, the 14-page statement titled "The Social Presence of the Church" urged clemency for the dissidents, more religious and political freedom and national reconciliation.

"It is preoccupying that currently all thoughts and actions which do not coincide with official ideology are considered lacking in legality, disqualified and combated without taking into account the truth and goodness they might possess," said the Cuban Conference of Bishops in the statement, which marked the feast day of Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity.

The bishops exhorted Cubans to seek a constructive dialogue and "overcome the temptation to defeat one another."

"We know our proposal ... is not well received neither by the country's authorities nor by some Cubans living outside their homeland," the statement read.

Five years after Pope John Paul II drew hundreds of thousands to open air masses around the island, church officials estimate about 60 percent of the population is
baptized, although only about 5 percent attend Mass regularly. Attendance is up from the 1960s and '70s when scores of priests were expelled and church-going
Cubans were banned from the Communist Party and some competitive careers.

Though Cuba is now officially a secular state, the bishops said a "subtle struggle" against the church persists and the government perceives it as an entity that can
"steal strength and energy from the revolution."

As the most powerful non-governmental organization in Cuba, the Catholic Church has walked a tightrope between the government, which has restricted its access
to state-run media and its ability to build new churches, and those who see it as an agent of political change.

In Tuesday's statement, Cuba's 13 bishops reiterated their demands, including the right to reopen parochial schools and bring foreign priests to work here. They
insisted the church is not competing with the government nor challenging it, but said it must interfere when fundamental human rights are not respected.

The dissidents' sentences of up to 28 years in prison and the executions of three ferry hijackers in April "close the path to freedom of expression and comprehension
among Cubans," Monsignor Jose Felix Perez said in a news conference Tuesday.

The Bishops' statement was delivered to government officials in Havana and to the Vatican, said church spokesman Orlando Marquez. It will be distributed in
parishes across the island.

Cuba's Catholic Church periodically publicizes statements urging greater freedoms.

Vanessa Bauza can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com

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