Saturday, November 7, 1998

Catholic groups look ahead to election of a new Pope

By JUDY TARJANYI

Toledo Blade

When the next Pope is selected for the Roman Catholic Church, it will be done as it always has been done, in a highly secret conclave shielded from public view.

The church's long tradition of choosing its leader in private, however, hasn't stopped reform-minded progressives from engaging in the kind of lobbying that marks the very public election of politicians and even Protestant church leaders.

On Oct. 15, 140 groups claiming to represent more than 150,000 Roman Catholics in 27 countries, most of which are in Europe and North America, called for the election of a collaborative Pope "who can listen as well as preach, and dialogue as well as teach."

The groups supporting the statement, "A Pope for the Time to Come: Bishop of Rome and Universal Pastor," also are urging that everyone in the church of nearly a billion members be allowed to participate in the election of church leaders, including the Pope.

Their statement has been sent to members of the college of cardinals, who will elect the next Pope, and to the current Pope, John Paul II, who marked his 20th anniversary in the office on the day the document was issued.

Whether the voice of groups that signed the statement will be heard and heeded by anyone with the authority to bring about change in the church remains to be seen. Reformers continue to chip away, suggesting changes in the church's ancient structure in hopes that, like the Berlin Wall, it one day will fall away and bring them the freedom they seek. Loyalists say the present structure works well and, in fact, elected a collaborative leader in John Paul II.

Msgr. Donald Heintschel, secretary of communications for the Toledo Catholic Diocese and a canon lawyer, is among those who think change in the papal election process is highly unlikely.

"You're getting into democratic principles and procedures. The church is not a democracy. So much (of the push for change) is coming from the democratic peoples of the world and the church is not set theologically in that kind of context," he said.

Dr. Scott Hahn, associate professor of theology and scripture at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, O., agrees.

"We have to recognize that ultimately, this is not a political institution reflecting a modern democracy. The church never was and never will be (a democracy)." Rather, Hahn said, the church's structure is more like a family. "In a family, there's collaboration as well as communion, but also authority, and you don't elect your parents, you don't elect your father, you don't even elect your own brothers and sisters."

Hahn, a former Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism in 1986, said that before throwing out the unique role assigned to cardinals in the selection of the Pope, Catholics should ask themselves: "Has the political process of electing a president brought greater unity and peace and harmony to our national family?" He questioned whether it is right to impose that system on an international family where the differences are immeasurably greater.

Based on his experience in the more democratically governed Protestant churches, Hahn said, "When you import that political model of church into your parish and presbytery, you politicize the church. You end up enmeshed in ecclesiastical politics. There aren't appointments, there are elections, so there is constant campaigning. You bring into the church all the features of modern American politics, some of which are good, but not all."

The Rev. James Bacik, a theologian, author, and pastor of Toledo's Corpus Christi Parish, said that while he agrees the church is not going to become a democracy, he does not believe Catholic progressives necessarily want the church made into a democracy in every way.

"Progressives want more collaboration, and they want the papacy more open to particular issues," he said.

Father Bacik said the landmark Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which brought about reforms in the Catholic Church in such areas as liturgy and the role of lay people, reminded Catholics that all are co-responsible for the church. "Probably the one phrase that caught on more than any other was, 'we are the church,' " he said. "All the baptized make up the church and are equal members, co-responsible for its well-being. Thus, the idea that people want collaboration and that some people are calling for that in explicit ways seems to make a great deal of sense."

He said collaboration exists today at the parish and diocesan levels in the form of parish councils that advise pastors and diocesan councils that advise bishops. The national hierarchy of bishops in the United States, he said, has done a lot of listening to church members in writing its pastoral letters on such subjects as economics, peace, and racism. "The general feeling has been that those were very collaborative efforts."

The progressive element in the church, he said, is asking for even more of that. "It's perfectly in order for people to try to act politically in trying to help the church live up to its own gospel mandate to be a sign and instrument of the kingdom," he said. Whether or how that influences the church structure, however, is not clear.

Sister Nancy Westmeyer of Vision Time, a group working to foster "servant leadership" in churches, thinks that change is in the air. She believes the church's top-down structure must be altered if there is to be true collaboration.

"There are no arenas for the average person to be heard. The structure of the church is a male, hierarchical, controlling structure.

There is no room or little room for anyone else. In other words, the Pope has had some synods in Rome and has invited people to talk with him, but it is always at his suffrance. There is no formal structure that gives the laity a voice. They have no choice but to create documents like "Pope for the Time to Come," or to go to the media, or go to means that sometimes the church disapproves of," she said.

As for the kind of Pope that reform groups are seeking, Hahn believes the present Pope reflects many of the qualities enumerated by the "Pope for the Time to Come" statement.

"I can't think of a guy who is a better listener. I've been with him on several occasions and never in 40 years have I spoken to someone who listened to me more intently ... when you talk to him you feel like you're the only other person in the room," he said.

However, many of the groups that signed onto the "Pope for the Time to Come" document, including Call to Action; Corpus, a group advocating married priests, and Women's Ordination Conference, have even more specific ideas about the kind of Pope they want. For example, their statement calls for a Pope who would support opening church ministry to all people, regardless of gender, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Hahn said when he hears discussions about such changes, "I hear people who want to be Catholic but who have internalized what you could call the liberal agenda of the Democratic party platform. They believe in that so deeply, you almost wonder if they don't believe in that more than the perennial teachings of the church."

Sister Nancy said, however, the signs of imminent change are everywhere. "There are so many people who are hungry and wanting to serve and wanting to be engaged in ministry in the church. I think we'll reach a time when that no longer can be held back because I believe it's the movement of the Spirit."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)