THE PAPAL VISIT : Divisive Issues in Church Quickly Confront Pontiff

Pope John Paul II began his 10-day pastoral visit to the United States here Thursday and was confronted almost immediately with the controversial issues and tensions that have divided U.S. Catholics.

In a public exchange of remarks with President Reagan, who flew with the First Lady to Miami to greet the Pope, John Paul exalted the ideals of the United States’ founding fathers with a ringing cry of “God bless America” and praised the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Using the words of Abraham Lincoln, the Pope called for “a new birth of freedom,” including “the relentless pursuit of truth.”

A Polite Challenge

But in a meeting with 750 Catholic priests shortly after Reagan’s welcome, John Paul was politely challenged to consider some of the American church’s most divisive issues: celibacy among the dwindling number of priests, the growing drift of Catholics from traditional church teachings, freedom of inquiry for Catholic theologians, and an expanded role for women in the church.

In fact, the tone for the busy workday was set even before the papal plane landed. During lengthly questioning by journalists as the Pope flew across the Atlantic, he asserted that despite public opinion polls showing that a substantial majority of American Catholics ignore at least some church teachings, a “great silent majority” are faithful. Aboard the plane the Pope also explained for the first time in his own words his formal audience with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, which outraged Jews around the world, and spoke more directly than ever before about AIDS and homosexuality.

‘Sounding Harsh, Demanding’

In his meeting with priests at Miami’s St. Martha’s Church, the pontiff listened intently as Father Frank J. McNulty of Newark, N.J., mixed praise for him as a leader and poet with a distressing reminder that “people often do not perceive the church as proclaiming integral truth and divine mercy, but rather as sounding harsh, demanding.”

McNulty, 57, chosen to represent the nation’s 57,000 Roman Catholic priests to the Pope, is a pastor and moral theologian and former archdiocesan vicar for priests in Newark. He spoke with emphasis but smiled often during his talk and was applauded frequently by an audience of priests representing all 185 of the country’s dioceses.

McNulty noted, “The value (of celibacy) has eroded and continues to erode in the minds of many” and he called attention to the decline in the numbers of young men opting for the priesthood. McNulty asked the pontiff to support priests who “want to persevere” in celibacy, as well as calling for “exploration” of how celibacy “can be most effectively implemented today.”

Without directly calling for a change allowing women to be ordained, McNulty nonetheless declared: “The movement of women toward practical equality is a major dynamic of our time. . . . There is need for study, reflection and, above all, more dialogue with women.”

The question of ordination of women as priests is one of the most controversial in the American church and one on which John Paul stands most firmly opposed.

McNulty also included a plea that priests be allowed to help select the bishops appointed over them and that theologians be allowed to function “with freedom” as well as “fidelity to the wider mission of the church.”

McNulty did not refer to any theologian by name, but Father Charles Curran was stripped by the Vatican last year of his right to teach Catholic theology because his inquiries led him to con1668052339official Vatican doctrine. Vatican authorities said Curran was wrong to question established dogma.

McNulty based his 20-minute message on comments and suggestions elicited from priests’ councils throughout the nation. A copy was sent to the Pope in June for review and preparation of his own speech to the 750 priests assembled here at St. Martha’s Church.

Although McNulty’s talk avoided direct criticism and was subtle--even ambiguous--in tone, in the format of a “structured dialogue,” as the exchanges between the pontiff and various groups on his U.S. trip are called, McNulty’s list of “concerns, worries, fears, hopes and questions” were unusually frank. Even before Thursday’s speech there had been some criticism of the selection of McNulty to address the Pope by conservative Catholics who regarded the Newark priest as too liberal.

The fact that he felt free to voice them to the pontiff in a public setting marked a departure from the more compliant and unquestioning stance traditionally associated with priests’ communications with their top leader.

Duty Stressed

John Paul responded to McNulty with a mildly worded address that did not touch directly on any of the issues he raised, but he did stress the duty of priests to submit to his teaching authority.

“I am aware of your fidelity and sensitivity . . . which require much sacrifice,” the pontiff said, adding that “Christ . . . is able to draw young people to himself” for the priesthood “as he has in the past.”

He also cautioned them not to let compassion lead them to be too merciful when “a gesture of mercy goes contrary to the demands of God’s word.” The remark was interpreted by observers in the papal entourage as a rebuff to priests who try to stretch strict church teachings on such matters as divorce and the use of birth control by their parishioners.

The question of fidelity to church teachings was also raised by journalists earlier aboard the papal plane. John Paul called the current dissent among American Catholics “a very serious problem,” but questioned whether it is widespread dissent by many or “dissent by some very (prominent) theologians, publishers, writers and perhaps journalists.”

During almost an hour of walking the aisles and talking to reporters on his chartered Alitalia Boeing 747, John Paul was repeatedly asked to explain his meeting with Waldheim, who has been accused of aiding in the deportation of Jews and others to concentration camps while he was a German army officer during World War II. The Waldheim meeting was the focus of a papal audience with nine prominent Jewish leaders at his summer home in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, last week. At that meeting he listened to the Jewish leaders’ complaints but did not directly address the Waldheim issue.

On his plane, however, John Paul said his formal reception of Waldheim “was necessary to show the same appreciation and the same esteem for every people. He came as a president, democratically elected, of a nation.” Although his meeting with Jewish leaders did not resolve the question for many American Jews, the pontiff called it “a good meeting,” and the Jewish leaders said they were satisfied even though they “agreed to disagree agreeably” on the Waldheim issue.

Characterization Rejected

On the question of homosexuals, the Pope rejected a reporter’s characterization of them as outcasts.

“They are not outcasts,” he said. “The homosexuals, like all people who suffer, are inside the church.” He paused, then added, “No, not inside the church. They are in the heart of the church.”

Questioned about AIDS, he said, “The church is doing all that is possible to heal and especially to prevent the moral background of (AIDS).” Asked if he saw God’s hand in the AIDS epidemic, he cautioned that “it is not easy to know the intentions of God himself. He is a great mystery. We know that he is justice, he is mercy and he is love.”

The Pope also admonished critics who complain that the Catholic Church is undemocratic by reiterating his often-expressed view that it is not supposed to be.

“The Catholic Church is not a democratic institution,” he said. “It is an institution governed by Jesus Christ, a theocratic one. We are only servants of one chief, of one pastor. We are only his instruments, his envoys. It is difficult to compare the Catholic Church and her structure to a democratic state.”

In his public remarks, however, the pontiff had only praise for democracy, American-style. Speaking to Reagan after a 35-minute private meeting with the President at Villa Vizcaya, an Italian Renaissance-style millionaire’s mansion that is now a Dade County museum, John Paul extolled “the many admirable values of this nation,” underlining “one that stands out in particular. It is freedom.”

‘Ordered Freedom’

Calling freedom “a great gift, a great blessing of God,” the Pope said Americans had used it to fashion “a well-ordered society,” but he stressed that he was talking about “ordered freedom,” which implies responsibilities to humanity.

“The more powerful a nation is, the greater becomes its international responsibility, the greater also must be its commitment to the betterment of the lot of those whose very humanity is constantly being threatened by want and need,” he said in the brief exchange of speeches with Reagan.

The Pope also expressed joy that he had come in time for the celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. “I willingly join you in your prayer of thanksgiving to God for the providential way in which the Constitution has served the people of this nation for two centuries--for the union it has formed, the justice it has established, the tranquility and peace it has ensured, the general welfare it has promoted, and the blessings of liberty it has secured.”

Reagan told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew home to Washington that he told the Pope during their private meeting that the superpowers are on the verge of a historic arms accord but success depends on the Soviets’ willingness “to get down to the hard work of completing an agreement.”

Reagan also said they had shared views “on the progress that had been made toward the establishment of a genuine peace in Central America.”

“I assured his holiness that the United States is committed to the extension of democracy throughout Latin America,” Reagan said.

Earlier, Secretary Marlin Fitzwater told reporters that Reagan planned to mention Nicaragua in particular because the Pope had been there and the church has a continuing interest in the country’s conflict.

John Paul capped the day with a 4.5-mile motorcade along Biscayne Boulevard, where the cheering crowds were smaller than projected. Police initially estimated the crowd at 25,000, about 10% of the number expected, then said a late surge of spectators boosted the total to 200,000. Nonetheless there were long stretches of the route with only a few onlookers.

Maj. Ken Forrester, whose Florida National Guardsmen lined the parade route, questioned the police department’s revised estimate, saying the initial count of 25,000, “is a much more reliable figure.”

Authorities speculated that weeks of warnings about major highway closures held down the crowd.

THE POPE’S DAY: MIAMI/SOUTH CAROLINA Friday, Sept. 11: all times are local to the area.

MIAMI 8:30 a.m. Meets with 200 U.S. Jewish leaders at Dade County Cultural Center and opens the Vatican Judaica Exhibit. 9:55 a.m. Celebrates Mass at Dade County Youth Fairground. 1:30 a.m. Departs airport for Columbia, S.C.

COLUMBIA, S.C.: 3:30 p.m. Arrives Columbia Airport. 4:05 p.m. Visits St. Peter’s Church, greeting by Bishop Ernest L. Unterkoefler. 4:50 p.m. Parade to President’s House, University of South Carolina. 5:10 p.m. Meets with 27 ecumenical leaders, University of South Carolina. 6:20 p.m. Parade to Williams-Brice Stadium. 6:30 p.m. Ecumenical service in university stadium. 8:25 p.m. Departs airport for New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS 9:05 p.m. Arrives New Orleans Airport. DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON, S.C.

Established: 1820. The diocese includes the entire state.

Bishop: Ernest L. Unterkoefler (installed 1965).

Catholic Population: 72,000 catholics (2% of the state’s total population).

Parishes: 83.

Priests: 120.

Nuns: 250.