The post office has refused to transmit money orders to Caritas International, a Roman Catholic relief agency in Rome, because its medical aid beneficiaries include North Vietnam. Timothy May, the Post Office Department's general counsel in Washington, advised officials here not to send the money orders because it would be "in violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act." "He indicated that if they made it clear that this mailing was intended to reach the civilians of North Vietnam we were not permitted to accept m it," a spokesman said.
. The decision was made after 25 members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist group, showed up at the post office intending to send the money orders or to mail packages of medical supplies. Mary Ann McNaughton, a member of the fellowship, said they did not feel that "sending medical aid to suffering civilians" was the same as trading with the enemy.
* Based on a U.P.I. report.