I’ve been purposefully sitting out of the Pope Francis media frenzy ever since it started. I wanted to watch and see what happened instead of posting a knee-jerk reaction to every gesture the pontiff made, speculating on his authenticity and whether or not he would ordain the closest lesbian he could find or banish the “Novus Ordo” and establish conversational Latin as the only acceptable form of communication in every parish. I sat back, completely not surprised that the secular media excitedly chattered about his comments, wondering if this guy was finally going to bring that darn Catholic Church into the 21st century. That’s no shocker. The secular media loves that kind of thing, and they do it every time we get a new pope. What’s been increasingly distressing is the clamor coming from the more-entrenched-than-ever factions of the Church that are all wildly condemning, speculating, and accusing. I’ve got to tell you: I’m really tired of it.
Okay, so apparently I could be wrong, but Catholic still means universal, right? As in, a universal Church founded by Christ Himself. He also said the gates of hell would not prevail. I’m still on track, right? So why is it that I keep seeing more and more articles describing “traditional/conservative” Catholics, and the liberal Catholics, and the so-and-so Catholics and their opinions of the Pope’s comments that everyone in the media was squawking about? First of all, it’s not big news that the secular media would try to distort comments made by a pope in order to fit them into their own agenda. It’s not big news that they want to do all they can to undermine the Church and spread confusion and doubt. Secondly, since when is it okay to wrap Catholicism into our own ideologies?
The Catholic Church is too big to smash her teachings into a narrow ideology. The fact that we have all these groups clamoring for their own way, criticizing anything that doesn’t align with their own perspective, is poisonous to the Church. Of all the thousands of saints that have been canonized throughout the centuries, of all the martyrs that gave their lives for the Faith, find me two that were exactly alike. Are the Benedictines somehow more right than the Franciscans? Or the Jesuits? Or the Sisters of Life in New York City? The fact is that we all have a personal manner in which we experience God, unlike no other person. The Church has always been open to the differences in individual people, provided they adhere to the Truths taught by the Magisterium. If you want to go to the Tridentine Mass every Sunday, good for you. If you go to the reviled “Novus Ordo” every week, that’s fine too. It was officially approved by the Vatican. Please go tell the pope he’s wrong and you’re right and that your way is the holiest of them all.
The pope is just a man and is going to make mistakes and commit sins. We all agree? But the pesky fact remains that he was chosen to be the head of the Church. We still believe that the secret vote was guided by the Holy Spirit, right? So God kinda picks out His Popes through the leadership of the Church. Let’s tell God He’s wrong and that He should have put a more traditional guy in there. We owe the pope our obedience and our prayers that he will be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and guide the Church the way God sees fit, not any of us. God had a reason to pick Cardinal Bergoglio, and few of us may understand why. Isn’t that where faith comes in? Sure there have been some pretty bad popes in Rome over the centuries. Some of them did some pretty terrible things. But the Church survived despite them. Pope Francis has done nothing to actually make us think he falls in with those ranks.
We’ve been so tightly wound up over everything coming from the Pontiff’s mouth that we can’t even take a joke. An obviously satirical article appeared in December that said Pope Francis declared all religions to be true in a “historical” third Vatican Council. It was hilarious. Yes, the Vatican must have had this council in a broom closet in the middle of the night to avoid the media and taken only two hours. Too many people actually believed it. This illustrates just how ideologically bent some folks are and how much they actually want to condemn everything the Pope says that doesn’t conform to their interpretation of Catholicism. Several Catholic bloggers actually had to write articles explaining how this actually wasn’t the case. Are we that tightly wound that we can’t take a joke? Are we that stuck in our own mindsets that we interpret everything as an attack on our version of the Church?
Look, I’m not trying to say that I think the Church is perfect, or that everything Pope Francis does and says is perfect, or that we shouldn’t be mindful of reverence in the liturgy, or that we should allow the authentic teachings of the Church to be distorted. I’m not even saying that the Pope doesn’t need to work on his media outreach or that he doesn’t need a better translator. What I’m saying is that an ideological rigidity has settled into different factions of the Church and that it reeks of pride and idolatry. It is poisoning the Church. There is plenty of room for everyone to be able to sit down and have a discussion and not try to impose our ideologies on each other. It’s time to step back, take a deep breath, and ask for God’s guidance as we move forward in this day and age.
Right now the world is a mess. There is so much sin and so many terrible things that happen. If the wages of sin are death, imagine how many broken people are out there right now. With all the millions of abortions that have destroyed the lives of innocent children, there are also millions of hurting women. Do we need a pope who gets up there and wags his finger and condemns everyone and throws around the weight of the Church like a ton of bricks? Will that help bring people back? Is it time for wrath or time for mercy? Do we highlight the sin and not the path to forgiveness? The brokenness and despair that permeate the lives of so many can only be healed by the power of God’s love and compassion. No, we never accept sin, but we must illustrate the beauty of God’s Truth through the demonstration of His healing love and by illustrating through our own lives that there is another way to be happy and at peace. Let us pray that Pope Francis can be that beacon of light to the world and that He can lead the Church in Truth, Mercy, and Love.
15 thoughts on “Mass Confusion”
I was under the impression that the Pope talks a lot about mercy, but doesn’t seem to remind us about the need to repent. I’m not saying I wish the Pope to go around condemning people. The call to repentance is not condemnation, it is its opposite.
Then I googled “Francis” and “Repentance” and came across this video: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2013/11/pope-francis-sinners-repent-the-corrupt-do-not/
So those are words strong enough for me, I can be quiet now.
Also on this subject, Saint John Chrysostom in his “Homily Against Publishing the Errors of the Brethren” (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1913.htm ) is as enlightening as he always is. My favorite father, perhaps.
“For on account of the being flurried at the opinion of the vulgar, so long as we may think that we escape notice in our wickedness, we exert ourselves to become better; but when we have become notorious to all, and have lost the consolation derived from the escaping notice, we grow more shameless and remiss rather. And just as sores become more painful by being unbandaged and frequently exposed to cold air, so also the soul after having sinned, if in the presence of many it be rebuked for what it has done amiss, grows thereby more shameless.”
I have really struggled with Pope Francis. I tend to have a more conservative / traditional outlook. By my perception, Pope Francis is about as liberal / progressive as he could possibly be and still be within the range that remains true to the Faith. Don’t get me wrong, I do not think he has not crossed any lines. He has not tried to change one period or comma of the Catechism. Yet every time he speaks or writes, I am afraid he is going to say something that contravenes, modifies, or waters down the Church’s defined teachings or gives ammunition to the enemies of the Church.
We are not required to agree with everything the Pope says or does as if it is the Holy Spirit speaking or acting. That’s not how it works. We must assent to the Magisterium, and we must give the Pope respect and the benefit of the doubt. But we are not necessarily required to agree with every aspect of his strategy, tactics, or methods for the Church. The Pope is shaking things up by intentionally breaking many small “t” traditions (example – washing the feet of a Muslim woman), being very critical of weaknesses in Church (example – castigating “clericalism”) and generally saying we have been doing things wrong and need to change.
I have thought about this a lot. To the extent my anxiety over Pope Francis is based on a fear that he is going to say or do something that contravenes the Magisterium and thereby destroy my faith in the Church, this is itself due to a lack of faith on my part. The Church teaches that this cannot happen and I should be confident of that. My fear that it could happen reflects a lack of faith. It has been eye-opening to discovery this lack of faith in myself and I am working to overcome it. I think this is the case for many. Please pray for an increase in faith for all of us.
Your faith is strong, Don but your ability to accept all Catholics no matter
where they are at in the church is what challenges you. We’re all points of
light (on a hill) no matter the luminosity. Leave that to God.
Thanks; lots of truth in that.
Where does darkness come from?
I don’t know, Joe. I think some of it is caused by diseased
brains, people who have been hurt so bad their only wish
is to strike back and make others hurt. Since it is part of
the human condition I imagine it’s necessary just like the
dark matter they now believe is the glue that holds everything together. What do you think ?
From Satan.
Chris, one more point. I am all for Pope Francis’ emphasis on mercy and I am hopeful that he can take the Church out of its essentially defensive posture and turn it into an evangelical juggernaut, but we have to figure out how to deal with the large percentage of Catholics who obstinately refuse to assent to the Magisterium on matters of sexual morality and life issues. They affirmatively reject the Church’s teaching on abortion, homosexuality, fornication, marriage, divorce, re-marriage as adultery, etc. In other words, they refuse to believe the things we are required as Catholics to believe. This is very different from accepting / acknowledging the Church’s teaching and failing to live up to it. None of us lives up to it; that’s why we all need reconciliation, mercy, and forgiveness. This is, instead, a refusal to acknowledge that sin is sin, and even to reject the Church’s authority to define sin. I believe these are the people who are causing the real division within the Church. They are claiming membership in Christ’s Church while simultaneously rejecting its teachings. This reflects a very non-Catholic worldview that says “I think the Church is wrong, and I can decide for myself what is right.” They want to change the unchangeable Magisterial teachings of the Church to conform to their secular beliefs. That’s not how Catholicism works, and in my opinion this is exremely damaging to the Church. I believe this is a bigger problem for the Church than that of people thinking the Church is being judgmental and exclusionary of them because they are “sinners.” Their mindset is that the Church is being judgmental and exclusionary by its very definition of sin, so they want the definition changed.
I should clarify. Where I said “I think these are the people who are causing the real division in the Church,” that’s not entirely fair. The situation is not helped by those (often me!) who judge and condemn “dissenters” rather than seeking ways to change their hearts and find charitable ways to bring them around to accepting the Truth rather than rejecting it or trying to “change” it. I have to admit, it is rather exasperating to see so many “Catholics” actively supporting abortion and gay marriage, and now using the Pope’s words to justify it.
Don, the second condition for a sin is YOU must know that it is wrong.
If someone doesn’t really believe that in their heart then it is not a sin.
Of course, the temporal consequences of sin still remain but they have
to figure out that for themselves by cause and effect.
james, this is a tough one. I suppose then anything is okay so long as I truly believe it is okay. This goes to the Pope’s comment to the atheist journalist that the goodness or wickedness of our actions is determined by whether we follow our conscience. It assumes a well-formed conscience. Otherwise, it would mean that nothing is objectively sinful. That is, it would mean there is not such thing as objective truth. Even Hitler believed in what he was doing.
Even Hitler believed in what he was doing.
* see sick brain syndrone in my reply to Joe 3 hours ago
It’s not as simple as that. There are many types of ignorance, and not all are without cupability.
Of course not Tom, as I said there’s the temporal and then God meters out the spiritual punishment.. Imagine God weighing the heart as the Egyptians believed to see how
the scales tip. Even the statue of Justice has it’s scales
tipped towards mercy.