c. 2005 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ It’s too early to tell in what direction Pope Benedict XVI may lead the church, but one of his long-standing beliefs may actually curtail the growth of Catholicism.

Benedict has long aligned philosophically with orthodox Catholics who say they want the church to stress ideological clarity, even if it means losing members.

“The phrase he uses is that Christianity may need to be a creative minority, and he’s used the analogy of the mustard seed, the tiny mustard seed that becomes the huge plant,” said John L. Allen Jr., a Vatican correspondent who wrote a book about Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now the pope.

“His view is, if you have to choose between being acceptable to everyone and being clear on who you are, you ought to choose the latter.”

In an interview 18 months ago on the Eternal Word Television Network, Ratzinger said he saw the church getting smaller as part of its renewal. “Essential things in history begin always with the small, more convinced communities,” he said at the time.

“From these small numbers we will have a radiation of joy in the world. And so it’s an attraction, as it was in the old church,” he said, hearkening to Christianity’s early days as a minority in the Roman Empire. “Even when Constantine made Christianity the public religion, there were a small number … but it was clear, this is the future.”

Some church observers say modern Catholicism may indeed decrease in size or face slower growth if Benedict goes to new lengths to stress church doctrine against abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, women’s ordination or Communion with other denominations, or if he retreats from liturgical reforms stemming from the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

In Ratzinger’s native Germany, for example, public opinion about him is mixed, polls show.

While heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years under Pope John Paul II, he frequently crossed paths with progressive German bishops who lead that country’s 27 million Catholics.

“Quite a number of Catholics may leave the church in Germany because they are not on the same line as (this) pope,” the Rev. Notker Wolf, a German native who is abbot primate of the Benedictine order in Rome, told Vatican Radio last week.

A strict adherence to church doctrine also could hurt the church’s evangelism efforts, said Alan Wolfe, author of “The Transformation of American Religion,” which argues that many denominations and churches are overly focused on growth rather than doctrine.

“There’s a major marketplace for salvation in the world,” he said. “Many people _ though not Pope Benedict _ believe that reaching out to potential converts with a more open message is the best way to beat that competition rather than withdrawing behind a doctrine of purity.

“If Catholicism wants to try to establish itself as an alternative to the growth dynamics of all other faiths, more power to it.”

Some say the numbers are not the best way to judge the Catholic Church’s strength anyway.

“The numbers are not really what matter,” said Max Bonilla, vice president of academic affairs at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. “Having 1 billion Catholics is not really meaningful until you talk about their fidelity, their love of Christ, their commitment to Christ and their understanding their own destiny before God.”

The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a student of Ratzinger’s in the 1970s at the University of Regensburg in West Germany, said he anticipates Benedict will work with bishops to try to reshape Catholicism in the West.

By appointing more prelates like Archbishops Charles Chaput of Denver and Raymond Burke of St. Louis, who during last year’s presidential campaign said it was sinful to vote for a candidate who supported abortion rights, the new pope will effectively force Catholics to confront their lifestyles and choices, realizing their good standing with the church can be affected, Fessio said.

“When we have stronger bishops, people will be placed at points of decision,” said Fessio, now provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. “They will be choosing between the joy of belief and riches that comes with the full knowledge of Christ, and the allurements of an affluent and hedonist culture.”

He said declining Mass attendance since the Second Vatican Council showed that more ideological clarity is necessary.

“Back in the days before Vatican II, there were 30 million (American) Catholics going to Mass every Sunday out of 40 million. After Vatican II, there were 15 million Catholics going to Mass on Sunday. What works best? The good old-time religion that stands up like a Marine and says, `We’re tough, want to join us?’ Or this adapted, kinder, gentler religion which says, `Whatever you want, we’ll adapt to it’?”

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Some church experts say that being pope, rather than the church’s guardian of dogma, may broaden Benedict’s vision in a more inclusive way.

They note that the popular John Paul also was very conservative on doctrinal matters.

“Their personalities are different because they’re different men, but (Benedict) is not an authoritarian dictator. … He’s not going to be any more aggressive,” Bonilla said.

Allen, though, who wrote the book about Ratzinger, said the new pope is naturally more interested in internal church matters than was his predecessor.

“John Paul, his focus was so much on the outside world, trying to engage it through travel and writings, that he wasn’t terribly interested in or attentive to the internal governance of the church. I think Ratzinger would be more likely to make sure everybody inside the church is focused on the same kind of songbook.”

KRE/PH/JL END DIAMANT

(Jeff Diamant is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.)