John Paul's Feisty Flock

By Richard N. Ostling

Next week in Miami, Pope John Paul II begins a ten-day visit to the U.S., the 36th major journey by this most peripatetic of Roman Catholic Pontiffs. He has worshiped with exotically clad Papuans and has preached to hundreds of thousands in Marxist Managua. But though he has been to the U.S. three times / previously -- as Pope in 1979 and twice before that as Archbishop of Cracow in Poland -- he has not encountered anything anywhere quite so complex and independent as today's American Catholic.

A few weeks ago, even as the daunting logistics for his tour were being fine-tuned, an adult Bible class met at the red brick Our Lady of the Assumption school in Claremont, Calif. The 25 participants quickly fell into heated disagreement over two issues: Is it morally licit for couples to live together outside of marriage? Should the church approve the remarriage of divorced parishioners? A generation ago, members of such a group would not have challenged the church's no to both questions. But at this meeting, reported Lee Kimball, a registered nurse, "Everybody had a different opinion. That's the state of American Catholicism today. People are practicing what they want to practice, and priests are giving individual advice."

Lee Kimball's feisty Bible study group typifies the dramatic shifts that have taken place in U.S. Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965. The stereotype of the working-class ethnic Catholic is no more. Catholics today are having smaller families, earning higher incomes and becoming better educated than Protestants. And their attitudes toward their religion have changed along with their circumstances. Once regarded by Rome as among the most dutiful sons and daughters of the church, many American Catholics now believe they have a right to pick and choose the elements of their faith, ignoring teachings of the church they disagree with. Nonetheless, more than in most Western nations where dissent is widespread, American Catholics continue to be committed to the church, though increasingly on their own terms.

The independent ways of American Catholics present a challenge that the resolute John Paul is determined to meet. This does not mean that he will necessarily arrive with tongue lashing and finger wagging. As with his dramatic 1979 U.S. visit, John Paul's Sept. 10-19 journey will feature blessings and warm homilies to huge and friendly crowds (see following story). But this time he will rely far more on advice from American bishops, who conferred with him in Rome, and he is expected to avoid confrontational speeches. The trip, through the Sunbelt and California to Detroit, will acknowledge U.S. cultural pluralism and deal with a few political necessities as well.

In Miami, the day after arriving and being greeted by President Reagan, he will confer with national Jewish leaders. Jews were upset by the Pope's audience with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, who has been accused of complicity in Nazi war crimes. John Paul attempted to mollify ill feelings with a letter expressing sorrow over the Holocaust, and will continue the fence mending at a Vatican meeting this week with Jewish officials. In Columbia, S.C., on Sept. 11, he will talk with an array of 27 leaders of non- Catholic churches, then join an ecumenical prayer service with 72,000 people. In Los Angeles, the Pope will greet representatives of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism.

The Pontiff will also acknowledge the ethnic mosaic of American Catholicism. In New Orleans, he will meet black Catholics and in Phoenix, Native Americans. Most important, John Paul will give long-overdue attention to the Spanish- speaking faithful. Fordham University Sociologist Joseph Fitzpatrick, a Jesuit, estimates that by the year 2050 they will form a majority of U.S. Catholics; in choosing to visit the heavily Hispanic archdioceses of Miami, San Antonio and Los Angeles, says Fitzpatrick, "the Pope is addressing the future of the church in the United States."

Nonetheless, the present church in the U.S. will not be far from his thoughts. America's 53 million members constitute the fourth largest Catholic community in the world (after those of Brazil, Mexico and Italy). The American church is powerful and wealthy. Says a Vatican official: "America dominates not only in terms of jeans and running shoes. The U.S. is a moral force in the world, and that's what makes this trip special."

The breadth of the problems that concern John Paul about Catholicism in America is indicated in a poll for TIME by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman.* An overwhelming 93% of those who say they consider themselves Catholic believe "it is possible to disagree with the Pope and still be a good Catholic." Asked if it is permissible for Catholics to "make up their own minds" on such moral issues as birth control and abortion, 78% say yes. A 53% majority believes that the Pope is infallible when formally pronouncing on doctrines like the divinity of Christ, but only 37% accept the infallibility of papal teaching on moral issues.

Surprisingly, American Catholic opinions on abortion do not differ greatly from those of Protestants. Only 14% of Catholics polled agree with their church's teaching that abortion should be illegal in all cases, as do 12% of Protestants; 57% and 52%, respectively, would allow abortion under certain conditions, such as a pregnancy endangering the mother's health or resulting from rape; a mere 27% of Catholics and 34% of Protestants believe that a woman should be able to get an abortion no matter what the reason -- as current U.S. law allows until the fetus is viable.

On other ecclesiastical issues currently in question, majorities of Catholics in the TIME poll favor permitting women priests (52%), married priests (53%) and remarriage in church for the divorced (76%). Only 24% consider artificial birth control wrong, despite the church's teaching, and a remarkably low 29% think that premarital sex is always wrong (as do 35% of Protestants). On the other hand, 68% agree with the Pope that homosexual acts are morally wrong. Many Catholics think important changes in their church can be expected during the next 25 years: remarriage in the church after divorce (predicted by 66%), married priests (62%), women priests (48%) and approval of artificial birth control (42%).

Too much can be made of this dissent from official church teaching. Indeed, the Pope can and will find many signs of exceptional vitality in American Catholicism. Attendance at worship services is notably higher in the U.S. than in most other Western countries: 54% in the TIME poll report that they attend Mass weekly or nearly every week. Still, 38% say they attend less frequently than a decade ago, and 60% say they go to confession less often than they used to. The poll also finds that less than one-fifth of the laity is unhappy with the leadership of bishops and priests.

Catholic admiration for John Paul is not diminished by the questioning of his teaching authority. Large majorities of Americans polled for TIME see him as a "man of peace" and an "important leader on the world scene." But Catholics (and all Americans) are split down the middle on whether the Pope is "too conservative." Only 31% of Catholics (and 37% of Protestants) accept the characterization of the Pope as "out of touch with the modern world," while 43% of Catholics (and 41% of Protestants) agree that he is "out of touch with Catholics in the U.S."

But not on one major issue. An important theme of his papacy has been the danger of man becoming the "slave of things." He has frequently preached that in affluent nations, materialism, selfishness and consumerism close the "horizons of the spirit." According to the TIME poll, an impressive 76% of Catholics and 56% of Protestants think that "Americans in particular should pay attention" to the Pope's words on materialism. Some 56% of Catholics also say the Pope's warnings are relevant to their own lives, though only 33% of Protestants think so.

In 1979 the U.S. welcomed Pope John Paul as a dramatic new personality on the world stage. The inevitable excitement about the first papal tour of the U.S. overshadowed the stern admonitions that John Paul delivered on church teachings and discipline. Since then, the Pontiff and Vatican officials have taken a number of widely noted actions to apply those admonitions. Some of the most controversial: temporarily limiting the authority of Seattle's liberal Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, firing the Rev. Charles Curran from his professorship of moral theology at the Catholic University of America, threatening nuns with expulsion for declaring that pro-choice opinions on abortion are legitimate, and directing bishops to cut church ties to gay Catholic groups.

Liberal U.S. Catholics who favor more individual autonomy reacted angrily. In California, Dominican Father Matthew Fox, a theologian whose unconventional writings have been scrutinized by Vatican doctrinal overseers, snaps that the "church is committing suicide." Americans living in Rome who have been in the U.S. recently have been stunned by the general opposition among clergy.

Confronted by assertive lay Catholics, pastors are often disinclined to enforce official teachings. Chicago Priest John Carolan remarks, "We don't talk about birth control. Young couples appreciate the freedom to make those decisions on their own." Says Father Eli Bauwens, of his parishioners at St. Brigid's in Los Angeles: "I've told them that what you do in your bedroom is your decision." Many have been divorced and remarried, and despite church rules, he quietly allows them to receive Communion anyway.

The most vocal parishioners these days are often women who feel unfairly treated by the church. Betty Jane Schlachter, a Detroit feminist, says, "It seems in church we are expected to be led by a chain." Ruth Fitzgerald, director of the Women's Ordination Conference, which is promoting priesthood for women, calls Catholicism the "last bastion of sexism in America." She predicts, "The church will wither away in power and influence if this doesn't change."

Feminists and homosexuals are planning demonstrations during the papal tour. % Gay activists have become angrier than ever about the church since a strict Vatican policy statement was issued last October. Rome ordered bishops to withdraw their support from organizations that criticize or are "ambiguous" about church teaching on homosexuality; as a result, at least 13 prelates refused to let Dignity, a gay Catholic organization, hold meetings on church premises. "What you're seeing is a Vatican out of control. They're hysterical!" exclaims Kevin Gordon, a gay Catholic activist in New York City.

Militant protest is not confined to left-wing radicals. A small but extremely active group of archconservatives believes that even U.S. bishops are unfaithful in upholding church teaching. One of the most outspoken traditionalists is A.J. Matt Jr., editor of the Catholic weekly the Wanderer (circ. 38,000) of St. Paul. The Pope is "poorly served by his hierarchy," says Matt, who thinks U.S. bishops should suppress all who are "contradicting the teaching of the church." Matt has readers in the Vatican, and attacks by him and other conservatives played a part in Rome's move against Hunthausen.

Differences between the U.S. hierarchy and the Vatican are publicly downplayed. The 387 members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops are officially aligned with the Pope, but a majority of moderates and liberals is subtly to the Pope's left on how to handle discipline. For their part, some of the Pope's Vatican advisers are convinced that much U.S. dissent is "artificially manipulated" by the media, as one prelate puts it. The Vatican dislikes not only the American dissent but also the fact that, as another official complains, "in the U.S., people are used to going public about everything."

One key factor is cultural. The Rev. Richard McBrien, chairman of the University of Notre Dame's theology department, says that in the U.S., "laity are used to thinking for themselves. They simply accept as basic what any American citizen accepts as basic -- due process, freedom of expression, all those things we identify with the Bill of Rights." And they question. "The Vatican doesn't grasp that," says a high-ranking priest in Rome. "It is put down to naivete or ignorance when U.S. Catholics want to know why. The Vatican is puzzled." And, sometimes, dismissive.

"The celebrities of religious life in the United States do not represent the overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholics," maintains a Vatican functionary, referring to oft-quoted liberal critics. But in informal conversation, Rome's strategists readily acknowledge the depth of dissent and refer to doctrinal skirmishing. A Vatican official who is eager to realign the U.S. behind papal teaching muses, "The American bishops want to see the trip completed without further damage. The challenge on this side is how to beat the bishops at their own game."

The 50 or so planned papal speeches have been drafted by U.S. writers and revised by the American prelate in the Vatican with the most regular access to the Pope. He is Archbishop Justin Rigali, a Los Angeles native who heads both the Holy See's diplomatic school and the English-language section of the Secretariat of State. Vatican insiders expect that John Paul will reaffirm some of his basic policies but without scolding. Says Vatican Press Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls: "He will convince not with authority but affection."

Papal powers over lay opinion and action are limited in any case. What matters more is John Paul's handling of the bishops, as well as priests and sisters involved in the local, day-to-day operation of the American church. Despite the concern of some conservative Catholics, there is little indication that the Pope is worried about the involvement of bishops and theologians in the antinuclear campaign and other social issues. But Rome has many other worries, particularly a growing personnel shortage, which could radically change the way the church's work is done.

The most dramatic decline involves women in U.S. religious orders. Since 1966, their total has dropped from 181,000 to 114,000. A far more disastrous loss lies ahead, because the average age of sisters is now 62, and the number of novices is extremely low. Partly on account of the loss of nuns and the rising costs that result, overall parochial-school enrollments have dropped in the same period, from 5.6 million to 2.9 million, despite an influx of non- Catholic students in some urban schools.

Sisters, meanwhile, have joined the laity in proclaiming women's grievances. A new round of rage could occur later this year if, as expected, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur bow to Vatican pressure and oust Sisters Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey of Charleston, W. Va. Since signing a 1984 newspaper ad, they have refused to stop advocating a pro-choice abortion stance. Chicago's Sister Margaret Traxler, who also signed that ad, intends to organize a nuns' strike if they are expelled. Says she: "It's difficult for the Pope and bishops suddenly in this day to realize they can't control women's bodies."

The numbers crunch among priests is not quite so severe. Resignations have slowed considerably since the period of 1966-74, when one out of seven -- 10,000 in all -- left the priesthood. Nonetheless, 44% of U.S. priests are 56 or older, compared with 26% in 1970, and they are not being replaced. Says Father Joseph Meehan of Philadelphia: "It's been an extremely long time since I talked to someone who was seriously considering the priesthood." Enrollment in postcollege seminaries has dropped from 8,887 in 1965 to the current 4,039. By the year 2000, one study predicts, there will be half as many priests as there were in 1970.

The shortage is leading to greater use of sisters, lay Catholics and deacons, a special ministerial office open to both single and married men. Though they cannot celebrate Mass, the church allows them to perform many functions commonly filled by priests. About one-third of the 19,313 parishes in the U.S. have hired sisters and lay workers for administration and pastoral duties with parishioners. There is also an ever growing number of priestless parishes, especially in smaller towns of the South and Midwest. Some are run by sisters or lay Catholics, who are permitted by Vatican rules to conduct Sunday Communion services and distribute hosts that priests have previously consecrated.

Chicago's Father Carolan warns of "burnout" among overburdened clergy. In some parishes, says he, "all you're doing is funerals, weddings and baptisms. There's not much time for anything else. Parishes become just like service stations. That's why guys get fed up." To prevent that, his parish has enlisted 400 lay volunteers who prepare families for baptisms, plan liturgies, run the finance committee, visit the sick and do most of the teaching. Deacons perform baptisms and weddings (without the nuptial Mass).

Vocations would increase, perhaps fourfold, if priests were allowed to marry, estimates Sociologist Dean Hoge of the Catholic University of America. He is a Presbyterian layman who reports on years of research in the forthcoming book The Future of Catholic Leadership. John Paul has declared the issue of clerical celibacy a closed topic, but Americans continually try to reopen it. The Rev. Terrance Sweeney, a former California Jesuit, last year released a survey showing that 24% of 145 U.S. bishops favored allowing married priests. Sweeney was subsequently forced out of the Society of Jesus for issuing the survey against his superiors' orders, and is now planning to marry.

Many observers believe that the most crucial long-range challenge to the Pope comes from the academic world, where so often teachers of theology are critical of church stands. The Charles Curran affair is the Vatican's first test case in America. While Curran teaches temporarily at Cornell, separate appeals of his dismissal are before a District of Columbia court and the faculty at Catholic University. The church contends that it has a right to insist on doctrinal allegiance from those who are paid to teach in its name. But the board of the Catholic Theological Society of America filed a statement with the faculty panel arguing that Rome's limits on doctrinal dissent are a "dangerous novelty" that would destroy theology as a legitimate academic field.

Far from backing off, the Vatican is on the verge of issuing a new decree that would give bishops added power to monitor the orthodoxy of theologians at all Catholic colleges and universities. America's network of 232 Catholic campuses, with a combined enrollment of 556,337, is by far the biggest in the world. The association of U.S. colleges and universities has vigorously protested a draft of the decree, fearing it would violate U.S. standards of academic freedom and jeopardize access to federal funds. Nonetheless, Francis X. Maier, editor of the conservative National Catholic Register, is convinced that the Pope will ultimately be the victor. Says he: "If it's a matter of doctrine, Rome will never lose. If it takes three years, fine. They've got the time."

In many ways the most important four hours of the Pope's trip will come during the second week, when he meets behind closed doors in Los Angeles with all the U.S. bishops. At his 1979 meeting with the bishops, the Pope simply delivered a formal speech. This time, however, the U.S. hierarchy has arranged to have four archbishops address the Pope. Chicago's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin will speak on the touchy relations between Rome and the local church, San Francisco's John Quinn on moral teachings, Cincinnati's Daniel Pilarczyk on recruiting priests and nuns, and outspokenly liberal Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee on the laity's role. The Pontiff will then reply.

John Paul is not running a democracy, of course. No political deals will be negotiated. What the Pope says will still count more than what he hears. And whatever their sympathies toward their parishioners and their clergy may be, U.S. bishops do not challenge the Pope's prerogatives as the vicar of Christ on earth. Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony, one of the Pope's recent appointees, explains, "The difficulty is that there are some key issues in our faith that are simply not negotiable." Says Cardinal Bernardin: "Many Catholics, and this is true of Americans generally, are more reluctant today to accept things simply on the basis of authority. To some extent this is good. It's a more mature way of going about things. It becomes a problem, however, when this attitude undermines in a destructive or pervasive way the teaching authority which we believe was given to the church by Christ."

Roughly two-fifths of the current group of bishops favor a harder line than Bernardin's. The Pope has been naming an average of 15 new U.S. bishops a year with the advice of the Vatican's astute monitor in America, Pro-Nuncio Pio Laghi, and he has generally used those opportunities to increase the conservatives' strength. So the division between those in the pews and those at the top of the American church seems likely to widen in the coming years.

Many Catholic Americans do not understand why, if their love of God and overall faith in the church are unwavering, the Vatican should insist on narrow fealty. They are perplexed that a Pope who seems so humane and intelligent would also be so implacable in insisting on adherence to church discipline and teaching. Curran, reflecting the viewpoint of many other Catholics, insists that not only theologians but also bishops "must have the power to disagree with the Pope on matters other than those central to faith and morals."

The Pontiff has more on his mind than the parochial concerns of the church in the U.S. Taking a global view, he sees himself in battle against both the dehumanizing philosophy of Marxism and the self-centered excesses of the West. To John Paul, the restoration of received Christian wisdom is the only certain path to human fruition and spiritual fulfillment. He will come to the U.S. smiling. He will convey a genuine and touching pastoral warmth, effectively using all the modern means of communication. But he will not agree to let even so important a body as American Catholics make their own way. Long after the banners of his visit have been struck, the shepherd of Rome and his unruly American flock will be testing each other in the struggle to define the shape of modern Catholicism.

FOOTNOTE: *Conducted by phone Aug. 17-19 with 860 U.S. =adults, including a special sample of 425 Catholics. *Potential error: plus or minus 4% for all Americans *surveyed, plus or minus 5% for Catholics.*

With reporting by Sam Allis/Rome, Barbara Dolan/Chicago and Michael Riley/Los Angeles