Dr. JOHN-PETER PHAM (Professor, James Madison University): Well, as one of those self-appointed pundits that my old friend, Gerry O'Collins, cautioned against in the segment we just saw, I list a number of issues in my own work. But I think first and foremost, an issue that transcends both the so-called conservative, so-called liberal divide really is the issue of the proper relationship in the hierarchy of the Church between the center in Rome and the local churches of an individual diocese, in countries and ultimately in small parochial communities. Mass proliferation of media and means of communication have facilitated during John Paul's pontificate a great expansion, personalization of the papacy. But at the same timeit's also facilitated a centralization. And a number of bishops and cardinals have raised questions about what the healthy balance ought to be. And I think that's going to be an important part of their deliberations.
ABERNETHY: Well, a lot of people around the world may want more local autonomy, but the question is, Chester Gillis, the question is, is this what the Vatican wants?
Dr. CHESTER GILLIS (Theology Professor and Chair, Department of Theology, Georgetown University): Well, the current form at the Vatican has less of that than it has in the past to some degree. But it's possible that that could change. [There is] the principle of subsidiarity, so that things could be done at the level at which they should be done, and also that there's a voice, a dialogue between the laity and the hierarchy locally and the hierarchy and Rome. And this pope's reign -- early in his reign, he would call the bishops together from a certain region of the world, and they would have conversations, and there would be discussions. In the later part of his reign, however, it was more of a monologue. It was more speeches to the bishops and the cardinals, to those regions, and instructions, and send them home with that. I think some bishops would rather report on what's happening in their region and how there are cultural and sociological differences, even if the doctrine remains the same, and how Christianity and Catholicism can be vibrant in their region.ABERNETHY: And Colleen, for you, what's the most important consideration that the cardinals should take into that conclave?
COLLEEN CARROLL CAMPBELL (Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center): Well, I think the pope's fidelity to the tradition that he received really marked his papacy, as well as his creativity in taking that tradition and making it accessible to the world through the media to people of different cultures and faiths, and to Catholics. But I think a lot of what remains undone, particularly in the United States, is just your basic education of Catholics in their faith. The vast majority of American Catholics don't know a whole lot about the basics of their faith. And, a lot of our Catholic institutions -- hospitals, universities -- have lost their Catholic identity. So I think for the American church those are going to be some of the big challenges.
ABERNETHY: And the issues that a lot of Americans have at the top of their list -- sex and gender issues, the priest shortage, that kind of thing -- those are not at the top of your list?
Ms. CARROLL CAMPBELL: Oh, I think they are very important, but I think a lot of what goes on at the level of -- the parish level -- is people don't know why the Church teaches what it teaches because no one has bothered to explain it to them clearly. And this pope has left us with a huge body of encyclicals, written speeches that explain it, but it needs to get out there.ABERNETHY: David Gibson, what's at the top of your list?
DAVID GIBSON (Author, THE COMING CATHOLIC CHURCH): I think the new pope's personality is going to be quite important in the sense that he's got to make his own mark, because John Paul II was such a -- his authority was almost based on his charisma. And I think a new pope has to assert his own identity and convince, not command, the Church, his flock, to come along with him on this adventure of sanctity. So it's, you know, it's -- the message does not change, but the medium is very important. I also think -- going back to the point that John-Peter and others made -- that relationship between the center and the periphery in the Church, if you will, between the "papalization" of Catholicism, as it's been called, is going to be very important, and that there needs to be a little more devolution, shall we say. I think that's going to be extremely important. There was a recent poll that asked American Catholics if they could name their own bishop, and just 40 percent of American Catholics could even name their own bishop. You know, all of them know who the bishop of Rome is. In a way, in these past 26 years, the pope has become everyone's parish priest and everyone's diocesan bishop.
Dr. PHAM: Well, the Roman Church has historically thought in terms of decades and centuries, not in terms of days, weeks, or months. So one shouldn't be -- raise the expectations of immediate change, immediate revolutions. But, on the other hand, a Church that's more willing to listen to its faithful, because that search for what's authentically the Catholic tradition isn't something that's to be found in a book somewhere and, you know, fallen straight from heaven. It's also a tradition that's built up in the practice of the Church, in the faith of the men and women who make up the community of saints yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And so that process of dialogue will, in those decades and centuries, definitely have an impact on what the Church views as its authentic tradition and what perhaps is a momentary discipline. I can't speak to what the answer will be, and I don't think anyone really can.
Mr. GIBSON: Well, I think that was a good point. I think the changes are already happening, in a way. I mean, we've seen the vocation shortage here in the United States, but in other parts of the world it's a desperate shortage. We're really fortunate here in many ways. And in a lot of the developing world people might see a priest once a year, if they're lucky. So the changes are already happening, in a way. Also, when you look in the United States again, the role of the laity. Just last year, the number of people working in parishes -- laypeople working in parishes --surpassed the number of priests working full-time in parishes. And those two trend lines are going to continue to go in different directions. So these changes are already happening. It's just a matter, again, as they said before, of how this change happens and whether there is a true dialogue. I think people, especially after these recent years of scandal and crisis, people want to feel that they are truly being listened to. And I don't think people had that sense in the last few years. They really felt stuck -- that the Church was to a degree at a dead-end of a certain point.
