By Chris Eckl

American Protestants felt a closer bond with John XXIII than any other pope in history despite theological misgivings about his church and the papacy.

When he died one Protestant editor wrote, “Never in the history of the Christian Church has a pope been so loved by men and women outside of his particular household of faith, nor so universally mourned at his death. John XXIII was more than the Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church; he was the elder brother in Christ of the faithful of every communion of the Church Universal.”

This attitude toward an individual pope did not exist before John, said Dr. Eugene C. Binachi, first Roman Catholic to teach in the Department of Religion at Emory University. Binachi has studied the change in attitude caused by the beloved pope in his book, “John XXIII and American Protestants,”

His book is a detailed study of the reaction and writings of Protestant editors as the papacy of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council unfolded.

Dr. Albert C. Outler, professor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, said in the foreword, “Professor Binachi’s story of ‘how it was’ can serve as a guide to how it may be. It is therefore triply useful; as a mirror of the past, as a warning to the overzealous defenders of the past now outmoded, and as a stimulus to those who have come to realize that the gracious providence that has brought us so much further than we ever dreamed surely means to lead us on toward that unity God wills for us and that He will one day provide.”

Binachi discussed his book, Pope John and the Church in a recent interview. A former assistant editor at America Magazine, he has a doctorate from Columbia University in a joint program with Union Theological Seminary. Binachi is a Jesuit priest on leave of absence.

“The book was done because I was interested in the phenomenon of John and his influence on changing attitudes of American Protestants. It was a natural area to study because even in the late 1950’s Protestants were quite negative toward the papacy.”

“John unlike many other popes, was able to communicate a deep sense of openness to human problems and needs. He was ‘sympatico’ and had a certain confidence in people so that he wasn’t fearful about allowing things to happen.”

“John had confidence that the Holy Spirit was alive today. He was not constantly looking over his shoulder to the past, but looked to see what God was saying to the Church in the crises of the present.”

Binachi said Pope John -- although theologically a conservative by education -- was pastorally dynamic, open to new events in history.

“This can be seen in his ‘prophets of doom’ speech,” Binachi said. “He was not given to issuing the cautionary statements and encouraged people to act because of his fundamental trust in man.” Asked his thoughts when the election of Angelo Cardinal Roncalli was announced, Binachi admitted he had some misgivings. “Everyone thought he was an interim who would not cause trouble among the different factions, but his background made him the man he was. His peasant upbringing and earthy humanism did not allow him to get lost in realms of speculation. It kept him in touch with man’s needs. He had been exposed to non-Catholics in Bulgaria and Turkey and faced the crisis of French Catholicism after World War II.”

Binachi said misgivings many Catholics had about John were erased by his charismatic announcement of an ecumenical council in January 1959.

Asked if he thought Pope John had been romanticized and mythologized, the Emory professor replied, “Every great figure of history is romanticized including John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.”

“But one must recognize the significance of John’s presence at a certain moment in history. He was a catalyst of communication in a world long separated into Catholic and Protestant, Catholic and Jew, non-believer and believer.”

The remarkable historic convergence as John as pope and John F. Kennedy as president threw a new light on the relationship of Roman Catholicism and modern democracy, Binachi said, “Look at the contrast between Al Smith and John Kennedy. There was a great fear of Smith, but John Kennedy orchestrated John Courtney Murray’s writings on religious liberty. All Smith could say was “Look how loyal I am -- I don’t know anything about the Syllabus of Errors.”

However, Binachi feels the outpouring of goodwill and ecumenism between the Christian churches has slowed down. “We are now sitting on an ecumenical plateau. The younger and more progressive want to move on to new levels of ecumenism such as intercommunion, better mixed marriage legislation, rethinking the validity of orders and greater communication and common involvement in race, peace and poverty. The duplication of petty kingdoms in the social fields alienate younger people.”

“Christians are learning that the divisions within in Christianity are not so much denominational as they are mentalities with denomination. A Roman Catholic may find himself much closer in attitude with a Methodist or Presbyterian, for example, than with another Roman Catholic. I’m afraid if we don’t take seriously the new strides in ecumenism, we will lose by default the great adventure started in our time.”

Binachi said what is gradually happening is that many persons are breaking through the barriers of the past to find new and deeper ties in Christians.

“In the past we were so careful about becoming indifferent to our own religion that we have been indifferent to the things we have in common -- one faith, one hope and one baptism.”

American Catholics, Binachi said, are only beginning to realize the potential of Vatican II. “We haven’t incorporated the great American genius of trial and error into our theology. We have been defensive and afraid of being swallowed by the American Protestant ethos. Fortunately, the young people don’t feel that way.”

“I strongly think that man is an evolutionary creature. His thinking on religious life is influenced by an evolving culture, and the Church and theology must understand these new insights. We need to return to a more dynamic view of how Church reveals Himself in our on-going world. We have been too closely tied to a Greek model of revelation.”

If Christianity, as Karl Rahner says, is a religion of open and absolute future in which we are not bound by historical determinations, then God would certainly surprise us with new insights and wonder.”

Giving an example of what he would consider a new insight, Bianchi cited the United Presbyterian Confession of 1967. “The statement, first of all, discarded the polemical stance on Catholicism. It is a very good example of new insights by Presbyterians because of the events of our time.

“On a doctrinal level it was also less rigid on predestination. The statement respected the past, but it represented the experience of a church living in the present. Catholicism must also respect the past, but it must have new experiences and insights to make possible this articulation.”

Bianchi has written a book, “The Worldly Church” which will be published in January or February. It deals with the impact of modern secularization on church theology and practice.