Michael KellyA radical vision is not always popular but is necessary for renewal and progress, writes Editor Michael Kelly
Pope Francis is a deft hand at prodding people and making them think outside the box. One might call it a prophetic quality. And prophets always make people feel uncomfortable because they reveal truths to us that we’re unwilling or unable to face.
The story of the Old Testament prophets is one of initial popularity which soon turns to hostility and even death when these messengers from God say things that make the Israelites feel uncomfortable.
The Pope, recently asked about his popularity, replied simply: “Jesus also, for a certain time, was very popular, and look at how that turned out.” So, Francis is under no illusions. You can’t please everyone as Pope – John Paul II didn’t, Benedict XVI didn’t and Pope Francis certainly doesn’t. But, then, the papacy is not a popularity context.
Francis recently put some people’s noses out of joint during a speech in Florence when he insisted that “faced with the problems of the Church, it is not useful to search for solutions in conservatism”.
As has become de rigueur, some commentators were quick to interpret Francis as lashing orthodox Catholics. Some Catholics who describe themselves as conservative saw it as another slight from a Pope who just doesn’t like them. Both extremes are wide of the mark.
Solution
Pope Francis rejects conservatism as a solution to problems in the Church: a kind of rigid linear thinking that often afflicts both orthodox and progressive elements within the Church with paralysis. Conservatism, as Pope Francis articulates it, is not adherence to Catholic orthodoxy – something which Pope Francis has been very strong on – rather it is the absolute resistance to change that is sounding the death knell for the Church.
Christian tradition records the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross as potent food for meditation. If we were to speak of the ‘seven last words of the Church’ what would they be? “We’ve never done it that way before.”
These are seven words that cripple hope of reform and renewal in the Church. They have a sister: “We have always done it this way.”
Bill Easum is an American-based consultant who advises Church communities on how to become more relevant and vibrant. He warns bluntly that “sacred cows make gourmet burgers”. In other words, clinging to old ways of doing things because that is the way it has always been done is a recipe for death. All the treasures of the Church – amazing cathedrals, awe-inspiring basilicas, churches resplendent in glory – are empty tombs unless we breathe the life of Christian living in to them.
If we’re honest, many Irish parishes are held back by rigid conservatism that manifests itself as hostility to change. This is sometimes led by priests and religious, but oftentimes it is led by laypeople. A priest told me a story recently about a group of people in the parish who were always saying to him “you’ll have to do something for the young people, Father”. One of the initiatives the priest introduced to the parish was a programme that engaged young people preparing for First Holy Communion and Confirmation and their families in the Sunday Mass. The result? Many of the people who had grumbled about the lack of young people started going to Masses in neighbouring parishes because they felt the Sunday Mass with their own community was becoming too long as a result of the youth participation! It’s hard for a priest to keep himself motivated in these circumstances.
A young priest working in a parish here – not an Irishman – told me how he suggested some new pastoral initiatives at a recent clergy conference only to be shot down by an older priest who told him (with a straight face) “oh, we tried that once in the 70s”.
Radical vision
Pessimism is crippling, but what’s the antidote? Pope Francis sets out a radical vision in The Joy of the Gospel in which he asserts his dream of Church that is missionary. It’s daunting, and we shouldn’t be afraid to admit that it’s daunting. It calls for new thinking and an openness to listening to new ways of doing things. The Pope is passionate in his appeal: “I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelisation in their respective communities. A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will inevitably prove illusory. I encourage everyone to apply the guidelines found in this document generously and courageously, without inhibitions or fear,” the Pope says in The Joy of the Gospel.
It’s a call to identify and reject arid conservatism and resistance to change in our own thinking, to understand that we are not asked as Christians to preserve the vast treasure of the Faith, but to share it with everyone.
The Irish Catholic has published Blueprint for the Church a readable and accessible study guide to Pope Francis’ bold vision for the reform and renewal of the Church as articulated in his document The Joy of the Gospel. It is available by calling Geraldine on 01.687.4095 (from NI 00.353.1.687.4095) or geraldine@irishcatholic.ie