If Pope Holds the Flock, We All Gain : Now Part of Mainstream, Church Supports Nation’s Values

Non-Catholic Americans have a large stake in the success of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States, as do Catholics. If U.S. Catholics cannot foster unity, creative consensus and international service in their ranks, there is considerably less hope for the country as a whole.

American society is progressively fragmenting into atomistic individualism expressed by the prevalence of single-issue and media politics. With the demise of political parties, labor unions, the traditional family and other mediating institutions, the good health of all religions is crucial for the survival of our society.

The fate of American Catholicism has not always been significant for the nation. U.S. Catholics constitute a secondary religion whose members have periodically suffered the discrimination endured by most immigrant minorities. America is traditionally Protestant--with Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus coming later, especially to urban and suburban ghettos of the East and West coasts. Certainly the Reformation and Puritanism have been dominant religious influences on secular American values. But in the last two generations U.S. Catholics have become part of the mainstream, even of the Establishment.

Catholic political and social consensus is important because Catholics occupy the center-left of the political spectrum, with Jews and blacks on the left and white Protestants on the right. Catholics not only constitute a large proportion of the “swing vote” nationally, but their votes are particularly significant in states like California, New York, Texas and Florida.

The Catholic tradition of internationalism is important as an antidote to mindless nationalism. On the question of the sovereign nation-state, John Paul stands against Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The American episcopal letters on peace and the economy sought a moderately progressive consensus that would lead to disarmament and a more just society.

Catholic social and political consensus is most important to the Democratic Party. The attraction of Mario Cuomo’s candidacy lay in the promise that he might unite old and new ethnics. The continuing dialogue of New York’s “odd couple,” His Eminence (Cardinal John O’Connor) and Hizzoner (Mayor Edward Koch), underlines the sizable significance of Jewish-Catholic relations in Democratic politics.

With Catholic unity, consensus and international service as criteria for success of the papal visit, this second coming of John Paul II could be a debacle. If the Pope focuses excessively on American Catholic sexual morality and attacks the episcopal leadership of the American church, he will reinforce the societal factors that foster fragmentation. Already many single-issue groups, some with tenuous links to religion, are gearing up to make this the most protested visit in papal history.

On the other hand, tension between Rome and the American church has already been lowered in four areas of confrontation. The compromise solution to the Raymond Hunthausen case--mediated by Archbishops O’Connor, Joseph Bernardin and John Quinn--removed the greatest source of anguish between the Vatican and the American bishops.

Archbishop Roger Mahony’s letter of Aug. 14 and John Paul’s remarks the following Sunday are the first strong indication that the Vatican has finally realized its lack of moral legitimacy among U.S. Catholics on the question of women’s rights.

The Pope and the American Catholic bishops have striven to repair the damage to Jewish-Catholic relations caused by the Kurt Waldheim visit. Jewish leaders got affirmation of the Jewish experience as central to the Holocaust in a papal audience. They have also been promised special access to the Vatican secretary of state and a document on the Holocaust, which they will help draft.

Finally, the Vatican tabled the beatification of Junipero Serra.

Only on Catholic relations with homosexuals has polarization increased. An October, 1986, Vatican letter provoked a more militant response from Dignity, the Catholic gay organization.

The criteria of unity, consensus and service demand learning and conversion from both American Catholics and the Pope. U.S. Catholics need to criticize more actively the individualism, nationalism and sexual and material consumerism of their culture. They need to reexamine the national bias for “quick fixes” for moral problems from “Star Wars” to condoms.

John Paul’s reciprocal need is not limited to financial assistance for the growing Vatican deficit. The Pope could profit from a deeper respect for American pluralism, collegiality and individual rights.

In Catholic political culture we all win together or we all lose together. In John Paul’s visit to the United States the “we” includes the Pope, the American bishops, U.S. Catholics and the nation itself.