Papal fallibility

John Paul II is popular, but the church is divided

At first glance, the banner headlines, enthusiastic broadcasts, and huge crowds generated by the recent visit of Pope John Paul II give the impression of an impressive and irrepressible leader in full command of his faithful. Nothing could be further from the truth. While world leaders may seek to bask in his reflected glory -- witness President Clinton -- the Catholic rank and file grows increasingly estranged.

For many years the Catholic Church has been simmering with conflict, controversy, and dissent. Four years ago in these pages, James Carroll, a sensitive yet unsparing critic of the Church, pointed out that "the present pope is presiding over the collapse of the Church's structure. . . . Half the Catholic parishes in the world have no priest." This is a sign of an institution plagued by malaise.

American Catholics are at odds with their church, at least the church as defined by Pope John Paul. According to surveys by the Universities of Chicago and California, recently published in the Boston Globe, 65 percent of Catholics questioned favor the ordination of women priests, 69 percent want priests to be able to marry, 31 percent are pro-choice, and an additional 51 percent would favor abortion under certain circumstances.

John Paul II is certainly the Catholic Church's most interesting and charismatic external leader. He has redefined the papacy. A scholar of deep spirituality who nevertheless connects viscerally with the masses, he has served as a potent symbol during his long pontificate. More significantly, he -- along with Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan -- gets considerable credit for the downfall of communism, the totalitarian evil that held his native Poland in its thrall for more than 40 years.

Yet as successful as John Paul has been in the world at large, he has been disastrous as an internal leader. Although he has been a principled proponent of some of Vatican II's most important values (especially ecumenism), he has primarily been a force for reaction. He is, at heart, a man at odds with the modern world.

By extolling the liberal values of peace, economic equality, and social justice to world leaders while leading his own institution in reactionary and iron-fisted style, John Paul II manifests a contradictory world-view that creates serious dilemmas. As Jorge Castañeda argued in the New York Times last weekend, the pope's call for a humane, values-oriented capitalism is welcome; but it's a goal he himself undermined by suppressing leftist priests in Latin America in the 1980s and '90s.

Here in Massachusetts, the contrasts may not seem so stark. The Church, under Cardinal Bernard Law, has taken progressive stands against welfare reform and the death penalty, though abortion naturally remains a contentious issue. Almost forgotten, however, is the fact that the pope forced Father Robert Drinan to resign from Congress in the 1980s. He was, fortunately, replaced by a fellow progressive, Barney Frank. But Drinan excelled at bearing moral witness when he was in Congress, and it was ill advised to end his political career.

Now there is a new storm brewing over the independence of Catholic colleges and universities. We believe it is a sign of the Church's basic internal division and weakness that the Vatican seeks to centralize its authority over higher learning. Under the leadership of educators like Father Donald Monan of Boston College and the now retired Father Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame, Catholic institutions have taken their place in the first rank. The Vatican could undo 100 years of progress with its heavy-handed tactics.

The Church's stance toward homosexuality is fraught with insensitivity and hypocrisy. It's an open secret that a large number of gay clergy are closeted. The Church's failure to come to terms with this simple human fact will prevent it from coming to terms with the natural sexual orientation of so many congregants.

On the matter of sexual abuse, the Church until recently has been in deep denial, as countless lawsuits seeking millions of dollars across the nation bear witness. Although it's made progress, it has a long, long way to go. It's almost as if church leaders fear that acknowledging the problem would compromise their insistence on celibacy.

The pope has made great strides in relations with the Jewish community, but that very outreach has raised expectations -- and those expectations have not been met. Although he has acknowledged the church's less-than-courageous role in the Holocaust, a big step forward, he has not apologized as frankly or explicitly as Jewish leaders and people of conscience are right to demand. And his suggestion of possible sainthood for the World War II-era pope Pius XII is a slap in the face.

Pope John Paul II will no doubt return to Rome in triumph. But he returns to a church badly in need of reform. Catholics know it. Sympathetic nonbelievers know it. And that -- we suspect -- is the pope's deepest nightmare, one he would rather suppress than deal with.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.