Time flies. People forget, especially after almost 50 years, but the late President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, had many interactions with the Catholic Church, with Catholics and with treasured Catholic beliefs.
A lifelong practicing Southern Baptist, his candidacy for president in 1976 concerned some Catholics. Baptists long had used the legal doctrine of “separation of church and state” to question the loyalty to the country of American Catholics and the place of the Catholic Church in this society.
Carter was elected, defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald R. Ford in a tight race. He began his inaugural address by thanking Ford for “all he has done to heal our land.”
The University of Notre Dame invited him to address its 1977 commencement. He agreed to speak, and on that occasion, the university conferred on him an honorary doctorate.
Presidential visits are nothing new to Notre Dame, but Carter’s speech made history. He announced his intention of advocating for, and indeed demanding, respect for individual human rights in American foreign policy.
Many Americans howled, even many Catholic Americans. What right did the United States have to tell other countries how to conduct their internal affairs?
A ‘clear parallel’ between Carter and Pope St. Paul VI
Some Catholic Americans saw a clear parallel between Carter’s position and the declarations of Pope St. Paul VI, then reigning, on human rights for all.
In 1978, midway in Carter’s term, Pope Paul VI died. Historically, the United States had officially downplayed notice of papal events. (Diplomatic relations between this country and the Holy See were yet to come.) The White House announced that First Lady Rosalynn Carter would represent this country at the papal funeral. Among many Protestants, all you-know-what erupted.
A new pope was elected, John Paul I. Carter sent Vice President Walter F. Mondale to Rome to represent this country at his inauguration, another calamity for some.
Only one month later, the new pope died. Ignoring objections, Carter sent his mother, Lillian Carter, to represent him at that funeral. St. John Paul II was elected as the new pope. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill officially represented the United States at the inauguration.
When John Paul II himself died in 2005, former President Carter flew to Rome to attend the funeral.
Carter, always a fervent Baptist, simply saw the Catholic pope as a great spokesman for Christian values, and saw Catholics and Catholicism as forces for good.
Catholic voices had loudly protested the Vietnam War on moral grounds. By the time Carter was president, the war had ended, but Carter pardoned those who had refused to fight in the war. Catholic leaders applauded him.
Addressing moral issues
At the time, racism was the great moral issue for Catholics. Abortion was still to come into prominence. Carter made civil rights, especially for African Americans, his cause. He appointed more African Americans as federal judges than any president before or since.
He always spoke as a convinced man of religion, as a Christian, who prayed. He publicly deplored the decline of morality in American life. Troubled, he summoned a small group of religious leaders to discuss with him why this was happening and what could be done. New York’s Cardinal Terence Cooke was in the group,
Many, Catholics included, joked about Carter’s stress on morality. History has shown that his perceptions were correct and that his fears were justified.
Carter personally never really had a following. Fellow Democrats solidly controlled Congress in his years in the White House, but often they went against him.
His simple ways — carrying his own bags when he travelled, addressing the country on television from the living room of his quarters rather than the stately Oval Office — amused many, but none doubted his sincerity, his personal integrity or his devotion to his Christian principles.
