Let’s face it, Pope Francis
thinks outside the box. This
is very evident in the long
interview by Antonio
Spadaro, SJ which has just
been published in major
Jesuit journals around the
world, including the English translation in
America magazine. The Holy Father’s
remarks are at once insightful, fascinating
and challenging. And most of them are
outside the box.
By this I mean that Francis is able to unify
the best insights of what we might call the
conservative and the liberal Catholic into a
single vision which draws all of us into a
mission of Christian service to the world, a
merciful service of truth and goodness to
those struggling in the dark. Thus when I
read the interview from my background as
a self-described “orthodox Catholic
intellectual”, I naturally found the Pope’s
reflections somewhat challenging. They
invited me to set aside some preconceived
notions, or at least to minimize certain
tendencies, and to integrate my preference
for a well-ordered analysis of the Gospel
into a more missionary sympathy for those
burdened by the messiness and confusion so
characteristic of our time.
But at the same time I recognized that
someone reading the interview from a more
“liberal” or “progressive” point of view
would find himself similarly challenged to
set aside preconceptions, or at least to
minimize certain tendencies, in order to
seek to engage that messiness and confusion
from the heart of the Church where it can
be healed.
To put it another way, Pope Francis has a
way of challenging the “conservative”
Catholic to be more open to the mission of
mercy and the “progressive” Catholic to be
more open to the mission of mercy. A
mission of mercy implies a deep willingness
to share in the struggles of another, from
which the “conservative” personality often
recoils; and it also implies a deep
willingness to resolve those struggles
specifically in Christ, from which the
“liberal” personality often recoils.
Or to try to express it one more time, both
faith without mission and mission without
faith are pointless.
Now all of these modes of expression
oversimplify to some extent, for each one of
us possesses the various human tendencies
in greater or lesser degrees. What I am
getting at is difficult to express without
misunderstanding. But I believe that Pope
Francis, in thinking so often outside the
Church’s internal polemical box, has a way
of challenging all of us to break out of our
own personal categories in order to
immerse ourselves more fully in the
fundamental character of the Church as
mission.
Inviting All of Us to Go Deeper
If this is so, then cherry picking individual
quotes to “prove” this or that about the
pope’s own “prejudices” is especially unfair
and unfruitful. Very often we will be
startled with the way he expresses
something only to realize, on reflection,
that we are being called to go deeper based
on the totality of what he has tried to
express. Accustomed as we are to what we
might call the culture wars within the
Church, we often allow particular words
and phrases to serve as red flags
which predetermine our reaction. This is a
grave mistake, because Pope Francis simply
does not think quite like the rest of us, and
he certainly does not express himself like
the rest of us.
He doesn’t seem to know the partisan
shorthand; he refuses to speak in the secret
code.
This presents us with an incomparable
chance to deepen both our faith and our life
in Christ in new and surprising ways. But I
also wonder whether the decision of the
Holy Spirit to bring this particular pope to
the helm at this particular time means that
a sufficient groundwork has been laid by
popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to
enable the greater part of the Church once
again to come together as a unified
community.
My readers know that I think the renewal
called for by the Second Vatican Council is
finally underway, and that the pace of that
renewal in dioceses and parishes is
increasing by the day. They also know that I
see the mainstream Catholic universities
and some mainline religious communities,
especially among women in the United
States, as major holdouts. But if the thirst
for authentic renewal has at least reached
critical mass (as I strongly suspect it has),
then we will soon have people on all sides
moving toward a deeper sense of Catholic
mission. Pope Francis may be just the man
to serve as a rallying point.
This is at least devoutly to be hoped. And it
makes me curious. I am tempted to identify
one favorite quote from this interview, not
as an exercise in self-serving cherry-
picking, but simply to say: “I loved this one
because it challenged me to go deeper into
what it means to be a Catholic.” Among
several possibilities, I at first selected two.
But I don’t want to cheat, so I’ll mention
only one and let others fill in. Here is my
one:
I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every
person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even
if the life of a person has been a disaster,
even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or
anything else—God is in this person’s life.
You can, you must try to seek God in every
human life. Although the life of a person is
a land full of thorns and weeds, there is
always a space in which the good seed can
grow. You have to trust God.
www.catholicculture.org

This is the beginning of the end for the catholic church.....at this rate i see it going the way of the anglican church. Divided between liberals and conservatives in differnt parts of the world.

Symphony007: This is the beginning of the end for the catholic church.....at this rate i see it going the way of the anglican church. Divided between liberals and conservatives in differnt parts of the world.

what are u saying