"Contentious Catholics." That was the banner headline on a full-page feature in the Chicago Sun-Times the morning of Aug. 12, hours before Cardinal Bernardin officially announced his Catholic Common Ground Project. As if to prove from the outset that the polarization among Catholics is real, the Sun-Times had posed the same questions to the presidents of two lay organizations: Linda Pieczynski of Call To Action, and William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Their contrasting answers were printed in facing columns underneath their photographs.

Asked if the chasm between Catholics is unbridgeable, Pieczynski said:

If we had wide-ranging discussions among people of all positions we would be better off than having the Vatican say a matter is closed and cannot be discussed.

To the same question Donohue replied:

There are some aspects of the church that are non-negotiable, and the sooner this is acknowledged, the better off everyone will be.

Since Aug. 12, there has been an avalanche of reactions to the Bernardin proposal. The need for dialogue -- and the difficulty of making it happen -- is apparent in this potpourri of immediate responses to Cardinal Bernardin's proposal.

Mary Louise Hartman, president of the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church: "We in ARCC may have contributed to the polarization Cardinal Bernardin is talking about, We've been asking for dialogue. So if he and the group he's assembling want to talk, we'd like to sit down with them and talk, as he says 'with civility and generosity.'"

Scott Appleby, director of the Center for Study of Catholicism, Notre Dame University: "It is a bold and welcome initiativeÉ He's spending some personal capital that he's built up over his career. He's making a stand, not in defiance of Rome, but he is exercising his prerogative to create room for discussion."

Paul Likoudis, news editor of The Wanderer: "Cardinal Bernardin seems to be abdicating the teaching and ruling authority he has for the sake of some ethereal dialogue. It's time for sanctions, not dialogue."

Sr. Maureen Fiedler, spokeswoman for We Are Church Coalition: "Are we welcome as part of the dialogue or not?" Noting references in the accompanying document about "authentic unity" and "acceptable diversity," she asked, "Who decides what is authentic and acceptable? Who decides what the boundaries will be?"

Rosemary Ruether, theologian: "The cardinal is issuing a broad invitation. But if the boundaries of discussion are based solely on official Catholic teaching, he seems to be eliminating from the table the polarizing issues and the people who are polarized."

Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston: "The church already has common ground. It is found in sacred scripture and tradition and it is mediated to us through the authoritative and binding teaching of the magisterium."

Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops: "I pray for this effort and hope the cardinal's stated purpose and goal of better understanding and reconciliation can be achieved."

Catholics Concerned (of Baltimore): "It's a plot against the church and the teachings of Christ...a last ditch effort by the reformers to push support for their misinterpretation of Vatican II."

Editorial in The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Substitute 'country' for 'church' here and you'd have a fine prescription for improving the way the American democracy talks with itself. That's what imbues Cardinal Bernardin's project with such promise, not just for Catholics, but for all who revere the democratic spirit."

Frances Kissling, Catholics for a Free Choice: "In the climate of today's church, it is difficult to see how any genuine effort to reduce polarization could be fruitful...The clear and unequivical message from Rome is that there is no room for dialogue on the issues causing divisions in the church."

Cardinal James Hickey of Washington, DC: "We cannot achieve church unity by accommodating those who dissent from church teaching --whether on the right or left. To compromise the faith of the church is to forfeit our common ground and to risk deeper polarization."

Tim Unsworth, National Catholic Reporter columnist: "The advisory board is really a fine group of knowledgeable experts. My concern is that these are FM people who will speak for a largely AM audience."

As Bernardin drew fire from both left and right, he said Aug. 29 that the criticisms "to some extent confirm the need for this initiative." CTA leaders agreed. In coming months CTA will look for ways to support eh Common Ground Project, said Dan Daley, and to emulate its sprit in the CTA national conference and in regional activities.