26 Years Ago in TIME

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A decade after the Second Vatican Council and two years before the death of Pope Paul VI, the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH in the U.S. was struggling. Membership was in decline, and debates had broken out over papal authority and the church's ban on birth control.

Theoretically, authority in the church is exercised by the Pope in conjunction with his bishops. Time was when decrees of the Pontiff or the hierarchy on any issue were obediently accepted by Catholic Americans, as if they were the laws of God. No longer. In matters of faith as well as morals, Catholics seem to be making up their own minds...Many Catholics have come to like their new independence, and even many priests agree that on balance, it may be a good thing...Is it a mission of the Catholic Church to serve the purposes of liberty? Perhaps it is. If man can choose God only freely--as Catholic theologians teach--freedom is a virtue both in the church and in society. American Catholics, heirs of a democratic tradition, might be able to achieve the necessary, delicate balance between the strength of authority and the risk of freedom. The Roman Catholic Church has been adaptable in the past, evolving, replenishing and renewing itself through the centuries. In the U.S. it may prove able once again to listen to the needs of the times and to apply the remedies of eternity.

--TIME, May 24, 1976