(6 of 10)
All of John Paul's actions are part of a strategy leading toward a high- profile identity for priests, brothers, sisters and nuns (in technical usage, nuns are a distinct category of sisters who take solemn vows). Explains one Vatican staff member: "You wonder why a man would bother to take holy orders if he is going to do the same job he could do as a layman." Rome has ordered a study of all U.S. seminaries, and a principal reason for this, says the Vatican source, is to guarantee that these institutions "are not turning out psychiatrists and social workers in collars." For similar reasons Rome, concerned that women's orders could vanish if sisters appear little different from laywomen, is investigating the orders in the U.S. and requiring distinctive garb and community life.
The same principle explains the Pope's controversial demand that priests and sisters give up political careers. The effects in North America: Jesuit Father Robert Drinan of Massachusetts left the U.S. Congress; Father Bob Ogle is no longer a member of the Canadian Parliament; and, in a reverse decision, Sister Arlene Violet decided to quit her order to serve as Rhode Island's new attorney general.
Some critics accuse John Paul of undercutting his own call for social justice by limiting the roles of priests, brothers and sisters. Others say that he seems to be applying a double standard, in light of the church's active political role in Poland. He believes he is consistent, however, in wanting bishops and priests to preach social justice. It is probable that never before has Catholicism been so engaged in this crusade as under John Paul, who continually hammers away at the themes of peace, poverty and human rights.
On the other hand, as the Pope understands Vatican II, the church should let the laity work out policy details and fill public offices. The Pope has praised and encouraged lay organizations that attempt to put Catholic ideals into practice in everyday life. Two of his conservative favorites are Opus Dei, a tightly disciplined international organization of 74,000, and Comunione e Liberazione, a less structured group with about 60,000 adherents in Italy and growing numbers in Europe and Latin America.
Clarity, the third theme, may be the most important. John Paul seems determined to make it plain that there should be unquestioning allegiance where basic church doctrine is concerned, which critics see as a denial of intellectual freedom. Asks the Rev. Richard McBrien, chairman of Notre Dame's theology department: "Are we back to book bannings, blacklistings, suspensions, expulsions and even excommunications?"
To the Pope, the important question is, rather, whether the church's teachings are accurately presented and clearly understood by the laity. Says a person who often chats informally with John Paul: "The Pope believes that the youth of today demand a crystal-clear presentation of the Christian message and resent it when their bishops try to accommodate them by watering down that message." New York Archbishop John O'Connor says that in appointing bishops, John Paul looks first and foremost for "a very clear articulation of church teaching."