It's a lot simpler: there are two American Catholic Churches.

One emphasizes traditional morality and abortion, is closely tied to Benedict, has its center at Notre Dame, pines for pre-Vatican II, and is probably best represented by the Paul VI Humanae Vitae encyclical.... https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1312720391626985477

The other emphasizes social justice, is closely tied to Francis (and the Jesuits), is centered at Georgetown, is totes cool with Vatican II and misses the idiomatic Nicene Creed that actually sounded like English, and is represented by the Progressio Populorum encyclical.

If you're speaking of "American Catholics," it's often necessary to specify which of the two you're talking about, since they don't get together much.