Catholicism is more than meets the press.

For a long time it has been the conventional wisdom that the secular media in the United States have ignored or at least neglected news of religion and things religious. Stung by criticism of this habit, in recent years these media have tried to mend their ways. But the result is a mixed blessing.

During the last two visits of Pope John Paul II to the United States, much of the media clung to a favorite position of theirs: it's not news unless there is disagreement, with adversaries pitted against one another. And in covering the pope's visits, they didn't have to look for that. It's true. Not all American Catholics agree with everything the pope says.

So the television networks, newsmagazines, and papers trot out opinion polls that show how many or now few Catholics "approve of" various moral or ecclesiastical precepts enunciated by the pope and, by extension, "the teaching church." We learn from these polls the underwhelming fact that a preponderance of U.S. Catholics do not think much of the prevailing article that proscribes 'artificial birth control." Many American Catholics, we are told, are not as staunchly prolife regarding abortion as one would wish. And large minorities favor allowing for a married clergy and the ordination of women to the priesthood. (One's curiosity might be piqued by the fact that when such opinion polls are taken, support for the former change is invariably greater than support for the latter cause. Could "progressive" Catholics possibly be sexist?)

But viewers and readers of such media treatment might well ask, "Is that all there is?" Is the nature and shape of being a Catholic encompassed by one's adherence to or disagreement with a handful of moral and ecclesiastical rules? Did any pollster ask Catholics how they feel about the Fifth and Seventh or Eighth Commandments? Or is it assumed that many Catholics, though disobedient, are otherwise virtuous?

More substantially, did any poll ask U.S. Catholics if they are willing to throw overboard their belief in God and the redeeming presence of Jesus? or the Eucharist and Mass? or the sacraments and devotion to Mary and the saints? Aren't all these things part of being a Catholic, part of, if you will, being a good Catholic?

It has been fashionable even in some Catholic circles to deplore attrition, "falling away," among U.S. Catholics even as the Catholic population in this country continues to grow. Some dismiss this growth out of hand by attributing it to the immigration of many who are already Catholic, such as most Hispanics, and that argument has some merit. But even when statistical analysis of things religious was primitive, there was evidence of substantial attrition among Catholics.

One need only recall the days when Catholics were taught quite firmly, and believed quite firmly, that a divorced person was beyond the pale and a divorced person who remarried was automatically excommunicated. What effect did that cruel rule have on the ebb and flow of the Catholic population? And what of the many Catholics who, then as now, simply drifted away from the practice of their religion for no particular reason, without being given an opportunity to express an opinion about abortion or clerical celibacy?

Isn't it time as we approach the 21st century to face up to the fact that there is much, much more to being a Catholic than how we feel about the ordination of women to the priesthood or how bishops are chosen or even whether we like the current pope?

Being a Catholic, just as being a devout Protestant or Jew or Muslim, begins, of course, with the gift of faith, in God and in all that implies. Catholics are also gifted with the incredible riches that derive from our basic beliefs and from our history replete with holy people, from the Virgin Mary and Saint Paul to Dorothy Day. The fact that our Catholic history is also replete with scoundrels and fakers makes it all the richer. That reminds us that we live in the world and, at least, not yet in heaven. So why do we let ourselves get hung up on mostly legalistic matters?

Appearing on a televised panel of Catholics to discuss the implications of John Paul's most recent visit to the United States, the always perceptive Father Andrew Greeley left the pontificating to his fellow panelists, two conservative and two liberal. (Should we be amused that they were pontificating on the visit of the pontiff?) Speaking with the wisdom drawn from many years of talking with American Catholics, Greeley pointed out that most U.S. Catholics "simply like being Catholics" and feel at home, especially in their parishes.

But don't expect to see a major treatment of that theme on the news with Tom Brokaw or to read it in Time.