Loved, not obeyed
LISA RUPPEL BENENSON finds that some American Catholics look to their own conscience instead of the Pope on issues of personal morality
Cruz, 20, isn't bothered that the Pope's first stop won't include her, nor is she concerned with the contradictions between his view of life and hers. Cruz is the mother of a 3-month-old son, conceived three months before she was married in a civil ceremony. She considers herself a good Catholic, but when it comes to the dictates of her church on issues such as birth control and sex before marriage, she looks to her own conscience instead of to the Pope.
"I don't have to follow everything he says," says Cruz, who attended Catholic schools and goes to the Spanish Mass at Sacred Heart each Sunday.
The face of the American Catholic church looks more and more like the face of Madelyn Cruz. When he arrives in the U.S., Pope John Paul II will be confronted by a congregation that frequently ignores his teachings on a wide array of issues, even as they continue to profess their faith and, in many cases, their love for the Pope.
According to a 1993 Gallup poll, 85 percent of American Catholics said they would be more likely to follow their conscience on difficult moral questions; only 9 percent would follow papal teachings. The same poll found 81 percent of American Catholics felt they could use artificial birth control and still be a good Catholic. In addition, 61 percent felt the same way about divorce and 48 percent about sex outside of marriage; 51 percent said even after having an abortion, a person could remain a good Catholic.
Despite the fact that each of those views is diametrically opposed to those outlined by the Pope, 73 percent of Catholics approved of how John Paul II was doing his job, according to the Gallup poll.
Cruz, a slight, pretty woman with long dark hair she wears tied in a ponytail atop her head, shares a worldview that puts her squarely among those polled on most counts. Her parents, both of whom immigrated from Puerto Rico before she was born, follow the Pope's dictates more closely. When she came home pregnant and unmarried last year, they were initially furious with her.
Even politically conservative American Catholics who agree with the Pope on sexual issues are sometimes at odds with him when it comes to social ones. The Vatican approves of capital punishment only in extreme cases, while two out of every three American Catholics support the death penalty.
Megaro does not believe his opposition to welfare contradicts a Pope who champions the poor. The American church lobbies alongside social service providers in Congress and state legislatures, and operates the nation's largest private social service system. In addition to running nearly 9,000 elementary and high schools and more than 500 hospitals, the Church also operates thousands of counseling centers, homeless shelters and hospices. "When it comes to political and economic issues regarding the poor, you find the conservative Catholics tend to depart from the Vatican's teachings," says William D'Antonio, a sociologist at Catholic University.
Despite such widespread dissent, church membership is on the rise -- up by more than 10 million since 1980. Much of that increase is attributable to Latino immigration. One in four Americans considers him- or herself Roman Catholic, making the Church the largest religious denomination in the U.S.
"We're talking about a practically priestless church, and that's nothing to brag about," says Richard Schoenherr, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin.
Some American Catholics also are uneasy with the legacy of the Pope's appointments. More than 85 percent of the 389 bishops, archbishops and cardinals in the U.S. were selected by John Paul II, and most hew to his strict positions on sexuality and church authority. "You could very well have a clergy and hierarchy that is way out of touch with the people," says D'Antonio.
But to Madelyn Cruz, the Pope personifies rituals and traditions that have united her family for generations. When he speaks behind the closed doors of Sacred Heart, he speaks in the church of her childhood, the church where she will baptize her son next month and where she hopes to be married by a priest sometime next year.
"I don't always do what the Pope says, but it makes me feel special that he's coming to Newark, " says Cruz. "He's going to make a lot of people think more about God."
There won't be any room for Madelyn Cruz in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ, on Wednesday when Pope John Paul II holds an invitation-only service. She'll be standing across the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pope as he begins a four-day East Coast tour at the church she has attended since she was 7.
Cruz follows in her own way (14.6K)
"I don't think most American Catholics really care what he says," says Fr. Richard McBrien, a professor of theology at University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN. "They'll come out to see him because he's a pope and he's a celebrity, or because they view it as an act of devotion, but it has very little to do with the way they actually live their lives."
"At first they were saying it was against God and the Church," she says, "But now they've accepted it." In fact, Cruz and her husband and son now live with her parents and her brother and his girlfriend in a small house in Newark. Cruz's mother cares for the baby, Luis, while Cruz works full-time at a day-care center. Next year, she hopes to return to college to study special education.
Conservatives also often disagree with the Church's positions on poverty. "I do believe in helping people if they're in need, but I don't think people should just be on the dole," says Anthony J. Megaro, a 63-year-old retired school principal who has attended Sacred Heart for 32 years. "I think there's a tremendous misuse of welfare funds at the grocery stores and so on, and I think it perpetuates welfare. Young girls have children in order to get financial support."
The commitment of such Catholics to their individual parishes, however, may be eroding. Only 51 percent of those who identify themselves as Catholic actually attend services, and the number of priests continues to drop. By the turn of the century, the number of active diocesan priests will have fallen by 40 percent since 1966, even as the Catholic population will have increased by 65 percent. There are fewer than five priests for every 10,000 parishioners in the U.S., compared to 33 ministers per 10,000 Protestants.
