The Pope In America: Offering an American Perspective

"I think American Catholicism is in great shape," said Father Theodore Hesburgh, president of the University of Notre Dame, last week. Hesburgh cited the church's "openness, its general thrust of concern about deep social problems," as reason for optimism. "I know the list of issues, " he added, referring to church division over abortion, contraception, unmarried clergy. "These are not what 90% of the Catholics are concerned about." Many American Catholics do not agree. The Roman Catholic Church, especially in the U.S., is living through trying times. Last week TIME asked a number of leaders, Catholic and non-Catholic, to comment on the state of the American church and what effect Pope John Paul's visit may have upon it.

The Rev. Daniel Berrigan, radical Jesuit: What the Pope has on his mind is what I have on my mind, the hideous nuclear arms race. He is not afraid to show his heart in the midst of a heartless world, a world of executioners, of mannequins and robots who coldly calculate the extinction of human beings. The great powers turn their backs. They say, "Aren't these fine sentiments?" But John Paul spoke to people, not to governments ... This is not to say that he sees the mote in his own eye. His views of women are old fashioned, and they are probably not going to change. We can't have apartheid at the altar.

The Rev. Charles Curran, moral theologian, Catholic University of America: We are seeing a change in the role of the papacy, placing a much greater emphasis on the person and personality who holds the office. Theology has always stressed the office much more than the person. There may be problems ahead with this shift. In the past American Catholics have identified the core meaning of being a Catholic on the wrong issues, on specific practices by which Roman Catholics differed from others: no meat on Fridays, contraception, obey the Pope. The core in faith must always be recognition of Jesus as Lord, the response of the community in Jesus through faith, hope and charity, the recognition of the power of God's love to ultimately overcome all obstacles, and the promise of the joy and fullness of life.

The Rev. Billy Graham, Protestant evangelist: No other man in the world today could attract as much attention on moral and spiritual subjects as John Paul. He is articulating what Catholic and Protestant churches have traditionally held, the moral values from the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. The country is responding in a magnificent way. It shows there's a great spiritual hunger. The Pope has reached millions of Protestants. The organized ecumenical movement seems to be on the back burner and ecumenicity is now taking place where Roman Catholics and Protestants share beliefs in matters like the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection of Christ.

Daniel Maguire, theologian, Marquette University, and a former priest: There is a certain amount of what I call "Italianization" going on in this country. The Italians have always tended to wear their Catholicism somewhat loosely. They identify with it, but they are selective in what they take seriously. In America, Irish literalism and doctrinal rigor is yielding to a kind of Italian, easygoing selectivity.