What are the sources of Protestant-Roman Catholic tension in the U.S.?
Last week the Jesuit weekly America listed three areas of friction in a
lead article by Editor in
Chief Thurston N. Davis. The sore points as Jesuit Davis sees them: BIRTH CONTROL. “Some Protestants speak of birth control as a positive
virtue. They are hurt and perhaps humiliated that their code of
personal morality in this matter is held to be grossly wrong by their
Catholic friends. The Catholic Church views this practice as contrary
to the natural law, that is, to the law of human reason itself. The
birth-control question is only a part of her total philosophical and
theological view of the right relations between husband and wife.” PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. “The Catholic parent who exercises his undisputed
right to educate his child in the atmosphere of a Catholic school is
convinced that an integral education—a complete education—is possible
only where a child receives thorough and systematic training in man's
obligations to know, love and serve God his Creator and Redeemer.
Protestants very often misunderstand the parochial school. Too often
they repeat the slogan about the Catholic school being a 'divisive'
influence on American society.” CENSORSHIP. “The Legion of Decency and the National Office for Decent
Literature … do not regard themselves as 'censors.' They do, however,
publish moral appraisals of movies and books. As a result, they are
looked upon by Protestants as 'unAmerican pressure groups,' or as
symbols of the intolerance of Catholics. [But the Legion addresses] its
directives only to Catholics. Protestants are just as concerned as
Catholics are to protect their youngsters from suggestive and defiling
influences. The trouble is that some Protestants seem to feel
themselves almost obliged to patronize the movie which the Catholics
condemned—just because the Catholics condemned it.” Father Davis' prescription: “Protestants and Catholics should get
together to talk over—not merely their differences —but also the vast
areas of common concern which they have. I think that Catholics should
take the initiative.” For years a small but recurring sore point between Protestants and
Catholics has been the movies' preponderance of Catholic priests over
Protestant ministers. Last week George A. Heimrich, West Coast head of.
the National Council of Churches' Broadcasting and Film Commission,
totted up the 1956 figures on films with Catholic and Protestant themes
and happily announced the result: four to one in favor of the
Protestants. Lutheran Heimrich gave most of the credit for better
Protestant billing to the Council of Churches' campaign to inform
producers about Protestantism. One lost battle of the campaign: the
council appealed to ministers for film scripts, got several and
rejected them all. The flaw: “They would never get the seal of approval
of the Production Code Administration, for in part they show the Protestant
religion in a very bad light.”
