c. 1996 Religion News Service

MOBILE, Ala. _ Priestly celibacy. Gay rights. Feminism. Birth control. Liberation theology. Welfare reform. In vitro fertilization. Euthanasia.

These are some of the issues that the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said were fragmenting the Catholic church and endangering its mission. Just three months before his death Nov. 14, Bernardin formed the Catholic Common Ground Project to address such thorny topics.

Now Mobile Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb has stepped into the breach. In late October, Bernardin appointed Lipscomb to take over as chairman of Common Ground’s committee of 23 religious and secular leaders who are seeking neutral ground for discussion between conservative and liberal elements within the American church. Their mission is to find areas of doctrine and practice where Catholics of all stripes can agree.

Critics have variously painted the project as an effort to give liberals a legitimate voice in redefining church doctrine _ or as a front to undermine real change in a hidebound, hierarchical institution.

Few people expected that the reaction to the Common Ground Project would be as vitriolic as it was. In fact, three prominent American cardinals attempted to squelch the project as confusing and divisive _ among them Philadelphia Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua.”When divergent opinions on theological matters are examined in a public forum, by a group, most of whom are not theologians, then reported secondhand in the media, confusion among Catholics,”Bevilacqua said.

But others have expressed hope that the project would bring unity among the divergent voices in the Catholic community.

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Alabama Catholics _ even those who disagree with some of the church’s teachings _ believe that Lipscomb will make an effective leader for the project.

Dennis and Kathy O’Keefe, who support ordination for women and married men, have found the archbishop to be open-minded yet firm.”Even though he may not agree with the issues raised by some of the Common Ground people, he’s not closed to hearing what those issues are,”Dennis O’Keefe said.”It’s one thing to differ from someone and to be open and have a playing field in which people feel free to express their opinions without judging. He could do that effectively,”he said.

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Lipscomb told the Mobile Register that he is still in the process of”fleshing out his role”in the project. He sees himself less a leader than a”participator,”he said.”Common ground is not something that will emerge from this project. Rather it pre-exists the project. There is already a likeness of belief and practice among Catholics, and we are seeking to build a method of action and attitudes so that divisions can be more easily understood and managed.” Dissent and division are natural in an organization as large as the Catholic church in America, Lipscomb said.”There is always a propensity to misunderstanding and prejudice.” The church is made up of fallible human beings, he said.””We are an incarnational church. We are still a weak, wounded body.” And the rift between conservatives and reformers is growing, Lipscomb said.”It’s getting worse. People can no longer sit down with a common vocabulary and a common set of values,”he said.”And that’s true in the church as well as in society.” He contends most Catholics are not extremists, but the voices of that small segment of the church that feels alienated from the mainstream have monopolized the attention of church leaders.”About 80 or 90 percent of the church is unaffected by the extremes,”he noted.”What’s working is what you don’t see.” Other church leaders see Lipscomb, 65, as the right person to help mold a sense of community among all this dissent.”I think he’s an excellent choice for taking over the Common Ground Project after Cardinal Bernardin. He has a wonderful combination of intelligent, pastoral sensitivity and good humor, all of which are needed. He is a very bright historian, and he sees things in historical context,”said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a scholar and observer of the American Catholic church. “He knows how to disagree with people while still being their friend. He’s going to have to model for the other bishops how to disagree and express very firmly what you believe but make it very clear you love the person and you’re friends with them.” Reese, who is a Jesuit priest and scholar at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said one of Lipscomb’s early challenges would be to re-explain the project’s goals.”I think some of the cardinals thought this was going to put church teaching up to a vote and to a challenge. Some people on the other side thought that everything was up for grabs under this project.” But just getting those polarized groups to the same table may be the biggest hurdle.”The biggest challenges will be in getting people on the right and the left to stop shouting at each other and to sit down and listen to each other,”Reese said. “We’re supposed to witness to the fact that we are Christians by our love, but we are really witnessing to the fact we are Catholics by the way we fight. And that’s the most important challenge that he faces.”JC END LONG