June 1, 1985

The Suffolk County Executive, reversing a long-held position, ordered county employees yesterday to run a test of an emergency evacuation plan required for the Shoreham nuclear power plant to go into operation. The official, Peter F. Cohalan, said that if the drill was successful, he would no longer oppose the opening of the plant. Immediately after Mr. Cohalan's announcement, Dr. William J. Catacosinos, the chairman of the Long Island Lighting Company, which built Shoreham, announced that the utility had paid the county $131 million in back taxes on the plant. The utility had refused to pay the taxes to protest Suffolk County's opposition to the plant, which is in Brookhaven on Long Island's North Shore.

Thousands of peasant families in search of a livelihood migrate each year to the low-lying fringes of this impoverished country. Once there, they say they will remain despite the hazard of being washed violently away. On the tiny island of Urir Char, Mohammed Abdullah, 50 years old, with thick graying hair and a face of sad resignation, told why in simple terms this week. ''We came here to start a new life,'' he said. ''There is no place else for us to go.''

In January 1981, a Presidential commission touched off a heated debate by proposing that the Federal Government stop spending money to restore old industrial cities and instead help the inner-city poor to move and find jobs elsewhere. Now, more than four years later, the Reagan Administration has taken a series of actions that, in effect, have begun to carry out that proposal. The Administration has sharply reduced Federal aid intended to restore the cities, all but halted construction of federally subsidized housing and is now instituting the first subsidy that could be used by the chronically unemployed to move to where the jobs are. This subsidy would be a housing voucher to help pay the family rent anywhere in the United States. Nobody can predict how many people would move or find jobs.

Officials of the Koch administration are investigating whether city-financed social-service agencies run by the Archdiocese of New York require acceptance of Catholic religious beliefs as a qualification for employment. The inquiry came to light last week, when a lawyer for the archdiocese filed papers in connection with his client's court challenge to Executive Order 50, Mayor Koch's policy prohibiting job discrimination by agencies that receive city aid. In the papers, the lawyer, John P. Hale, argued that church-run agencies have the right to ask employees to read, acknowledge and, if asked, sign a statement - known as a ''Catholic Identity Statement'' or ''Mission Statement'' - that includes descriptions of Catholic religious doctrine. Spokesmen for three agencies said yesterday that they use such statements, and the city is attempting to determine whether others do the same.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that talks with King Hussein of Jordan during his visit here this week had advanced the prospects for Middle East peace ''in a very significant way.'' But he said differences remained on the key question of how to organize negotiations between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. In a news conference summing up the Administration's view of the four days of talks that ended tonight, Mr. Shultz said, ''There are obstacles between here and the time when King Hussein and his delegation can sit down at a table with Israel, but there is motion today. Impetus to Peacemaking ''The King's visit has given impetus to the process of peacemaking. I think what the King has done is move the process in a very significant way.''