September 13, 1984

Pope John Paul II issued a strong call today for public financing of religious schools, arguing that ''we cannot leave God at the schoolhouse door.'' The Pope also issued a stinging criticism of economic systems that respond ''only to the forces of the marketplace'' and are governed ''by the profit motive of the few rather than the needs of the many.'' The Pope made his call for state assistance to religious schools this evening in an address to Catholic educators. His remarks, at a ceremony at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist here, comes when relations between governments and church schools are a central political issue not only in the United States, but also in France, Malta and elsewhere.

In the antiseptic ''clean rooms'' of semiconductor manufacturers, the pressure on employees to work quickly is palpable. With demand booming, an extra step or delay in the enormously complex process of fabricating microchips can cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. This week, the perils of success were brought home to the industry. On Monday, Texas Instruments Inc. acknowledged that some chips leaving its Midland, Tex., plant might not have been tested in accordance with the rigid specifications of some of the Defense Department's leading contractors. While no equipment failures have yet been traced to the chips, the parts are now embedded in some of the nation's most sophisticated weaponry. It was the second case of its kind this year; in March, the National Semiconductor Corporation pleaded guilty to a similar charge.

ARA Services Inc., the world's largest food service company, announced yesterday that an investor group headed by senior management had offered to acquire it. The offer is for $62 a share, or $858 million in cash, plus $8.50 in principal amount of subordinated debentures for each outstanding share of the company's common. There are 12.4 million shares outstanding.

After five hard years of beauty pageants, Mary-Ann Farrell almost threw in her sash last year. The pageant grind had taken its toll. She was hospitalized with nervous-stomach problems three weeks before the 1983 Miss Florida pageant. Contest week, her energy was low. She finished way down, a drop from her fifth-place finish in the 1982 contest. ''I was thinking of giving it all up,'' she said.

The last time the United Automobile Workers shut down the General Motors Corporation, the 67-day strike dealt the economy a body blow. That strike, in 1970, led by the union's newly elected president, Leonard Woodcock, pushed the nation's already feeble economic growth into a decline of 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter. If the world's largest auto maker is struck again when the current labor contract expires at midnight Friday, the nation's economy is unlikely to be hit as hard. But at the same time, some of the groups most directly affected by the strike - the workers and the suppliers - may feel the impact more keenly.