By Gretchen Keiser

A moment of joy and gratitude for most Americans was a time of agonizing disappointment for the families of the “forgotten seven” -- seven Americans who have been held for months and still are kidnap victims in Beirut, Lebanon.

“We are disappointed, although we have not given up hope yet. We do not feel that our government has failed us yet,” said Andrew Mihelich, nephew of one of the seven, in a telephone interview June 30 from Joliet, Illinois. Moments earlier, the 39 TWA hostages had reached Syria safely. His voice tight with emotion, Mihelich, whose uncle is Servite Father Lawrence Martin Jenco, said that the family had received no notice Sunday from the U.S. State Department that Father Jenco was not being freed along with the 39 Americans from the hijacked TWA flight 847.

Earlier in negotiations for the release of the 39, Secretary of State George Shultz said that the seven other Americans, who include Father Jenco, Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson and a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Benjamin Weir, would be part of any negotiating effort by the U.S. to gain release of the TWA passengers.

Father Jenco’s extended family of six brothers and sisters and dozens of nieces, nephews and other relatives have been spearheading an “awareness campaign” since January 8, 1985 when he was kidnapped in Beirut, where he worked for Catholic Relief Services.

During the hours when the release of the 39 was imminent in Beirut and when a convoy of International Red Cross vehicles was making its way to Damascus, Syria with the hostages inside, Father Jenco’s family did not know whether he and the other six kidnap victims had been released. Mihelich said, “We were in contact with the State Department,” indicating that the family had to initiate the contact and that they were then told that someone would inform them when there was verification as to whether or not Father Jenco had also been released.

In fact, Mihelich said, the family had not been contacted again as of late Sunday afternoon when international press coverage from Damascus had clearly shown that the other seven kidnapping victims had not been released with the 39.

“Once again as a family, we were treated without compassion, understanding or humanity,” Mihelich said. On Sunday, when the release of the TWA hostages was imminent, “it was a very sensitive moment, a very trying moment,” for the families of the other victims, he pointed out. Instead of the family receiving some contact from the U.S. government, “we had to call them,” he said.

However, he added, “We’re very grateful, very happy for those 39 men and their families.”

He also continued to hold out hope that the behind-the-scenes negotiating process had accomplished something for Father Jenco and the other six victims, even if it fell short of obtaining their immediate release. “Our original request had been not to treat” the TWA hostages and the other seven kidnapped Americans “as two separate issues,” Mihelich said. The U.S. government “heard our plea and we believe they attempted to secure the release of all individuals.”

“Our ordeal is 173 days now,” he said June 30. “We would have hoped that his release would have come at the same time.” But he said the family held out hope that Father Jenco might be released soon, even within days, because of the negotiating process. “To us, the event is not over,” he said.

Before the TWA hostages had been released and while the family still hoped that all the victims would be freed together, Father Jenco’s sister Susan Franceschini acknowledged that what has happened to her brother had dramatically changed them.

“It is a tragedy that has affected many families in the U.S.,” she said. “It took the hijacking to really bring it home.”

Her 50-year-old brother, whose religious name is Father Martin, had been the only one in the family who had left Joliet, Illinois, spending time in Australia and India with Servites and then in Bangkok, Thailand and Saudi Arabia for Catholic Relief Services. He arrived in Beirut last September and shielded his family from knowing he was in a dangerous area, Mrs. Franceschini said. In his letters, he talked about going from his home to his office as “an adventure,” she said. “He was very light about it. He didn’t want his family to know.”

But since his kidnapping, Father Jenco’s family has been galvanized, taking the lead among the families of the seven kidnap victims in contacting political leaders in Washington and mobilizing a nationwide publicity campaign of bumper stickers, buttons, letters, petitions and prayer.

“Every Monday night since January 8, we meet as a family and decide what we’re going to do to extend the effort,” she said. “Anywhere where they will listen to us, we go.” They have worked particularly closely with the wife of Rev. Weir and the father, brother and sister of AP correspondent Terry Anderson. The others among the seven kidnapped are William Buckley, a U.S. Embassy political affairs expert; Peter Kilburn, librarian at the American University of Beirut; David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut; and Thomas Sutherland, dean at American University of Beirut.

Mrs. Franceschini said the family’s effort would be impossible without the prayers of those who know them and thousands of people touched by her brother in his 25 years as a priest.

“If we didn’t have the support of prayers, we would never make it,” she said.

Despite their many trips to Washington, D.C. and the efforts they are making for her brother, Mrs. Franceschini said family members “get frustrated...feel guilt” that they are not doing enough. “You get down, but then you get picked up. Without even realizing it, we pick each other’s morale up.”

She thanked those who have written in support of the kidnap victims and those who have prayed, noting that the Rev. Weir had now been held for over a year, since May 1984, and the six month anniversary of her brother’s capture will come this July. A special Mass will be celebrated in Joliet July 7 and she invited people to “join in prayers with us that day whether they be joyous” because of his possible release “or for his quick and safe release.”

Despite the length of time that has elapsed and the frustration with government efforts, Mrs. Franceschini said, “We’ve not given up our hope. We’ve not given up our faith. The Sacred Heart, our Blessed Mother will see our brother home safely.”