American-Vatican divide

National Catholic Reporter, July 4, 2003

* Thanks for the article in the issue of May 30, "The American-Vatican divide." It's high time U.S. Catholics realize their dichotomy. Yes, Cardinal Francis George hit the nail on the head when he declares that U.S. citizens are "culturally Calvinist, even those who profess the Catholic faith." G.K. Chesterton noted that the United States is "a Protestant country. Even the Catholics are Protestants."

Calvinism encourages private interpretations of God and scriptures, predestination up or down, faith over works, "Are you saved?" over "Do you keep the Golden Rule?" Evangelicals (with George Bush among them) are not concerned with philosophy but with the literal Bible.

Americans love dichotomies instead of Catholic complementarities, individualism instead of inter-relational communion.

JACK HOLTERMAN

West Glacier, Mont.

* John Allen's analysis of "The American-Vatican divide" is interesting. The Vatican, he observes, sees this divide as a reflection of the differences between its Catholic outlook and America's so-called Calvinist perspective. The latter is seen as evident in the harsh and unforgiving attitude of the American public toward abusive priests as well as in the Iraqi war waged by the United States to combat "the forces of evil" as well as to exploit Iraqi oil.

Coincidentally, the May 30 NCR commented on the strong legal and popular reaction in Ireland to abusive priests. Ireland is hardly an "unforgiving" Calvinist bastion. Perhaps, the divide on this particular issue has to do with secrecy in a closed system as opposed to public accountability in an open one.

Also, by accusing the United states of being driven more by oil interests than by good intentions (whether well-founded or not) of a geopolitical nature only gives support to those who suspect Vatican policies are principally driven by the will-to-power than by the common good. Ascribing ulterior motives to those with whom one disagrees closes off communication and removes any real dialogue on the issues at hand.

The New Republic's senior editor John Judis provides a sounder basis for mutual understanding and discussion in the June issue of The American Prospect. He sees the divide not as between opposing Catholic (good) and Calvinistic (bad) views of sin and forgiveness, but as different moral philosophies at work among those across many religious and national stripes. In his view, the Bush administration is more utilitarian than it is Kantian. Rather than subscribing to universal standards of war, he writes, the president's team sees the great usefulness of a saner, more democratic and modernized Iraq for the Middle East and, eventually, for the world.

Although one may dispute Judis's belief that the U.S. victory in Iraq will ultimately undermine universal principles that protect the world's nations and lead to a worst fate than autocracy in the Middle East, his distinction between a universalistic ethics and a utilitarian one contributes more to the public discussion than does a pseudo-dichotomy between the Vatican's Catholicism and America's imagined Calvinism.

JAMES GAUGHAN

Bloomington, Minn.