September 30, 1982

International As the marines arrived in Beirut, statements by President Reagan and other Administration officials left uncertainty about the precise nature of the marines' mission and how long they would stay. Mr. Reagan told Congress the marines would be in Beirut ''only for a limited period.'' But later he said they would leave Beirut only when the Lebanese authorities said they themselves could insure the nation's security. (Page A1, Column 6.) The marines landed by ship and helicopter and took control of the Beirut International Airport minutes after the last Israeli soldiers withdrew from the area. About 800 marines arrived yesterday, and 400 more are expected today, joining the French and Italian contingents of about 1,100 men each that make up the multinational peacekeeping force. (A12:1-2.)

Acknowledging that his country had been experiencing a crisis of confidence, Luis Ugueto, Venezuela's Finance Minister, asked international bankers yesterday to convert their short-term loans to Venezuelan Government agencies into longer-term credits to the central Government. Mr. Ugueto, speaking to a group of international bankers at the Plaza Hotel in New York, said that many foreign banks had been declining to renew loans to companies owned by the Venezuelan Government. He warned the bankers that ''being too closed can do irreparable harm.'' Venezuela's problem, Mr. Ugueto contended, is that many banks have been declaring the whole of Latin America ''a problem zone.'' As a result, many regional banks have been reducing their loans to Venezuela, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The construction that began yesterday on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine was full of promise for the future of New York City. It represents not merely the continued growth of one of the city's greatest works of architecture, but also the success of a remarkable work program: the cathedral's decision in 1978 to give young residents of Morningside Heights, Harlem and Newark employment by training them in the ancient art of stonecutting. The cathedral is being built by a crew of roughly two dozen artisans who have been apprenticed under James Bambridge, the master mason who came to Morningside Heights in 1979 from Liverpool, England, to oversee the construction. Nothing would seem, on its face, more outlandish -the notion of giving neighborhood youths employment by training them in an ancient art - but it in fact has turned out to be an absolutely natural marriage between the needs of the cathedral and the needs of the surrounding community. The cathedral had stopped building during World War II, and work was not resumed after the war largely because the Episcopal Diocese of New York felt that the erection of a lavish structure would be symbolically inappropriate until the poverty of its upper Manhattan neighborhood could be alleviated.

The American Can Company, continuing a shift away from the packaging businesses, said yesterday that it had agreed in principle to acquire Penncorp Financial Inc., a general insurance company, for $295.4 million in cash, notes and cash. American Can also said it planned to take a $250 million pretax write-down of some of its holdings and eventually sell them. The after-tax write-down, to be charged against the current quarter's earnings, would be $175 million, or $9.50 a share. The company earned $19.7 million in its 1981 third quarter.

A joint Senate-House conference committee approved landmark legislation today to subsidize the nation's ailing savings institutions and give them broad new lending powers similar to those of commercial banks. The legislation also authorizes commercial banks, along with savings institutions, to market a new type of federally insured account nearly identical to the high-yielding money market funds. These funds have attracted more than $200 billion in recent years. Much of that money might otherwise have been deposited in banks and other financial institutions.