J
JReducation
Guest
It may be time that traditionalists back down and give the Holy Father a break. Look at several important points. The Holy Father was elected a few days before Palm Sunday. Along with the formalities that follow a papal election came the celebrations from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Let’s be real. Can anyone find a human being who can accommodate all of that into 18 days and do much of anything else?
Some people are saying that all they’ve seen are social justice gestures. But stop and think. These gestures do not require much discernment, dialogue, study or any kind of investigation. The obvious is obvious, plain and simple. If you have the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the sick, you know what needs to be done. You don’t need to call together a committee to get some ideas. These are situations that any bishop would have faced in his home diocese. When he comes to Rome as it’s bishop, it’s easy to respond.
On the other hand, issues like the SSPX. Vatican Bank, sex abuse scandals, the curia, persecution of Eastern Catholics, women’s ordination, laws that authorize: same sex marriage, abortion, contraception over job creation, capital punishment rather than the protection of morality, feminism instead of justice and protection for all women, these are not moral issues to which the Church can respond in 18 days. The Church has spoken to these things in the past. What she said has not work or worked a little, but more needs to be said. She can’t just repeat the same thing. If it was not heard the first time, it won’t be heard the second time. She must keep the substance and reformat the presentation in the hope of getting the attention of the world. Who of us can do this in 18 days along with everything else that the pope had to do?
Let us not forget that this man was not on vacation. He was running one of the most challenging archdioceses in South America with an assortment of problems of its own. One of his concerns was that his election had left that diocese without an ordinary. If my memory serves me right, Pope Benedict never gave Buenos Aires auxiliary bishops. Once Cardinal Bergoglio was elected, the archdiocese was in the hands of the Vicar General who served as the apostolic administrator. This also required the man’s immediate attention.
This is a 76 year old man. Most bishops are not starting a second career at the age of 76. They’re growing an herb garden, playing golf, enjoying their grandnephews and grandnieces, or back in their religious communities enjoying some quiet prayer time and solitude. The steady rhythm of activities, the change in climate, diet, living quarters, surroundings, staff, language and being away from home is exhausting.
I think it’s fair to back off, stop the criticism, stop fearing that he’s going to change dogma, because he’s style is Jesuit and not Roman. It’s time to wait and let him catch his breath before he begins to grapple with the big issues that require thought, prayer, discussion and careful planning.
What he wears, what car he rides, where he lives and whether his friends call him Pope Francis, Bergoglio, Father Jorge or just plain Jorge are non issues. Those are his personal choices and none of our business. Our business is that he run the Church. In order to run the Church, he has to stop running around. However, the last 18 days have been packed. This week is the first time that he does not have a major audience or a major liturgy for every day of the week.
Let those who can do what this 76 year old man has done in 18 days criticize, complain, and second guess. Those of us who can’t should be looking at him in awe and taking lessons on how to keep going.
Some people are saying that all they’ve seen are social justice gestures. But stop and think. These gestures do not require much discernment, dialogue, study or any kind of investigation. The obvious is obvious, plain and simple. If you have the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the sick, you know what needs to be done. You don’t need to call together a committee to get some ideas. These are situations that any bishop would have faced in his home diocese. When he comes to Rome as it’s bishop, it’s easy to respond.
On the other hand, issues like the SSPX. Vatican Bank, sex abuse scandals, the curia, persecution of Eastern Catholics, women’s ordination, laws that authorize: same sex marriage, abortion, contraception over job creation, capital punishment rather than the protection of morality, feminism instead of justice and protection for all women, these are not moral issues to which the Church can respond in 18 days. The Church has spoken to these things in the past. What she said has not work or worked a little, but more needs to be said. She can’t just repeat the same thing. If it was not heard the first time, it won’t be heard the second time. She must keep the substance and reformat the presentation in the hope of getting the attention of the world. Who of us can do this in 18 days along with everything else that the pope had to do?
Let us not forget that this man was not on vacation. He was running one of the most challenging archdioceses in South America with an assortment of problems of its own. One of his concerns was that his election had left that diocese without an ordinary. If my memory serves me right, Pope Benedict never gave Buenos Aires auxiliary bishops. Once Cardinal Bergoglio was elected, the archdiocese was in the hands of the Vicar General who served as the apostolic administrator. This also required the man’s immediate attention.
This is a 76 year old man. Most bishops are not starting a second career at the age of 76. They’re growing an herb garden, playing golf, enjoying their grandnephews and grandnieces, or back in their religious communities enjoying some quiet prayer time and solitude. The steady rhythm of activities, the change in climate, diet, living quarters, surroundings, staff, language and being away from home is exhausting.
I think it’s fair to back off, stop the criticism, stop fearing that he’s going to change dogma, because he’s style is Jesuit and not Roman. It’s time to wait and let him catch his breath before he begins to grapple with the big issues that require thought, prayer, discussion and careful planning.
What he wears, what car he rides, where he lives and whether his friends call him Pope Francis, Bergoglio, Father Jorge or just plain Jorge are non issues. Those are his personal choices and none of our business. Our business is that he run the Church. In order to run the Church, he has to stop running around. However, the last 18 days have been packed. This week is the first time that he does not have a major audience or a major liturgy for every day of the week.
Let those who can do what this 76 year old man has done in 18 days criticize, complain, and second guess. Those of us who can’t should be looking at him in awe and taking lessons on how to keep going.
