Pope John Paul Visits a Restless Flock

DURING ten busy days last September, Pope John Paul II jetted across North America, visiting nine U.S. cities and a village in Canada’s Northwest Territories. He reached out to non-Catholics and at the same time dealt with a growing independence in his North American flock.

Priests questioned the church’s rules on celibacy. Bishops suggested its moral rules were too strict. American Indians protested the way the church had treated their ancestors.

The pope addressed the growing practice among U.S. Catholics of ‘picking and choosing’ the parts of church teaching they want to follow. For example, Monsignor John Tracy Ellis explained that many people say: “I’m Catholic, but I won’t accept everything the Pope teaches.” Time magazine reported: “Once regarded by Rome as among the most dutiful sons and daughters of the church, many American Catholics now believe they have a right to pick and choose the elements of their faith, ignoring teachings of the church they disagree with.”

Careful Planning

This visit was orchestrated with great care. Texts not only of what church representatives would say but even of what Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist leaders would tell the pope were sent to the Vatican long in advance so that careful responses could be prepared.

The tour began in Miami on September 10.

From Detroit he went to Fort Simpson, in Canada, where he gave a “ringing endorsement” to Indian demands for self-government and possession of their own land.