Word: moralizer
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Bill was nine, his father, a welder, joined the Navy and left home, returning only occasionally at first, and then not at all. The main man in the youngster's life became his maternal grandfather Samuel Russell. "He loved to tell stories that had some moral point about getting an education, working hard," Bill recalls, "but you'd hardly notice because he'd be so funny and ramble around so much." Russell encouraged the yarns of his precocious eldest grandson. At the end of a session, he would fish around in a sock full of change that was tied...
There were memorable moments, of course -- usually serious, often sentimental, occasionally silly. One of John Paul's most eloquent sermons was delivered to a glittering gathering of 1,500 executives and entertainers (Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Loretta Young) in Los Angeles, summoning them to lift the moral tone of their media. "Seeking to satisfy the dreams of millions," he cautioned, "you can become lost in a world of fantasy." In downtown Detroit, he challenged an affluent nation: "You may choose to close in on yourselves, to enjoy the fruits of your own form of progress and to try to forget...
John Paul, who had received advance texts from the four archbishops last summer, responded to Bernardin merely with a reaffirmation of the church's traditional hierarchical structure. But his words took on an electric intensity when he answered San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn's general observations about troublesome moral issues, notably birth control, homosexuality and abortion. The Pope unleashed a vigorous defense of the Magisterium (the church's teaching authority), firmly rejecting the pick-and- choose approach toward church doctrine among many lay U.S. Catholics. "It is sometimes claimed," intoned the Holy Father, "that dissent from the Magisterium is totally...
...Pope directed the U.S. hierarchy to "address this situation courageously." He seemed to indicate that bishops and priests should re- emphasize that Catholics should not receive Communion if they do not obey the church's moral demands. (In a speech two days later, John Paul specifically applied this requirement to parishioners who remarry after divorce...
Without mentioning names, John Paul continued his tough tone by taking direct aim at liberal moral theologians like Father Charles Curran, who is fighting his ouster from the Catholic University of America. Theologians, the - Pontiff said, must be subject to church authority, and bishops should make clear that "dissent and confrontation" are not acceptable from church scholars. John Paul also urged the prelates to step up efforts to "safeguard and promote" doctrinal orthodoxy at church-affiliated colleges...