Something's Not Right, But...

Something's not right when a parish becomes popular because it has short, quick Masses. If religion is simply fulfilling obligations, it may make sense to get to Mass and "get it over with." If religion is an intimate relationship with God, hurrying through Mass is rude and counter-productive.

Something's wrong when the Church lacks sufficient priests to meet the needs of the people, and the leadership's only response to this shortage is to encourage more prayers for more vocations. Maybe leaders need to take another look at how God calls people.

Something's misguided when ordination to the episcopacy is a reward or an honor given to a man because of the office he holds. Bishops are successors of the apostles, and as such they are ordained not for themselves but for the people of God. The custom of assigning a newly ordained bishop to an imaginary diocese proves the point.

Something's out of balance when Cardinal Jozef Suenens of Belgium must ask his fellow bishops at the Second Vatican Council, "Why are we even discussing the reality of the church when half the church is not even represented here?" His observation led to inviting women to be present as auditors at the final two sessions.

Something's amiss when an ecumenical council directs that "the rite of the Mass is to be revised...the rites are to be simplified...parts which were lost through the vicissitudes of history are to be restored" and then a later pope decides to open the door to using the old rite anyway.

But something’s very reassuring when the cardinals of the Church elect a man to the papacy who is humble, pastoral, and not afraid. A real shepherd!

Something’s encouraging when the new pope selects Church leaders from around the world to help him in assessing the Church’s bureaucracy. Reform of the Curia is probable.

Something good is happening when the pope meets with the leadership of women religious, encouraging them to be of service to God’s people. The door to dialog is open.

Something’s back on track when signs of poverty and simplicity rather than wealth and pomp mark the life and lifestyle of the vicar of St. Peter. Pope Francis is challenging the mindset of many Church members as well as critics.

Something’s bringing hope and new life to the Church when Protestants declare themselves “very optimistic” about Pope Francis at the Protestant Kirkentag (the 34^th annual gathering) held in Munich May 1-5.

Something good is happening in the Catholic Church as we observe the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II –perhaps another Pentecost moment when the people of God will be inspired all over again to bring the Gospel into the world. Let us pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

A Hair In Your Soup?

Once upon a time a gourmet chef took over the day-to-day operations of a highly acclaimed and successful restaurant. The menu was superb, the presentation excellent, patrons numerous, but one of the chef's policies gradually allowed a major problem to develop: poor service. There were not enough waiters. Business suffered.

Applications to serve were numerous, but the gourmet chef  rejected most of them. He insisted that all who served had to be bald! He said that this control assured that no patron would ever find a hair in his soup!

Priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati recently received a memo containing "open listings," that is, positions in parishes and other church-related offices needing a priest. The listings are "open" in the sense that priests may nominate themselves or other priests for these positions.

One listing in this memo is unique. The Priests' Personnel Office is looking for a priest who will serve as "parochial administrator" of one parish and as "parochial vicar" to assist the pastor of three other parishes. (A parochial vicar is what we used to call "an associate pastor," and a parochial administrator is a quasi-pastor, that is, a priest who takes the place of a pastor; cf. Canons 539-540).

Such an arrangement implies that the diocese does not have enough priests for all its parishes. The priest shortage is having an impact upon people in  general and upon priests in particular.

In 1959, before Vatican II,  the Archbishop of Cincinnati Most Reverend Karl J. Alter commissioned a study which concluded that there was a "threatening shortage of priests for the immediate future" of the archdiocese.

His study was accurate; the shortage, however, was not confined to "the immediate future."  The statistics for 2012 show that the Archdiocese has 176 active diocesan priests plus 95 who are sick, retired or away. An additional 237 religious priests serve in the diocese, some of them in parishes. The number of parishes is 214; of that total, 152 have resident pastors and 62 are without resident pastors though administered by priests.

These stats reflect the reason for that unique open listing mentioned above and for the development of so-called "pastoral regions," that is, arranging one priest to serve as pastor or parochial administrator of more than one parish in a given area.

Yet another open listing seeks "Parochial Vicar for Champaign County Region" which includes four parishes --one priest to serve as associate pastor in a rural area of the diocese which includes four congregations.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati, of course, is not alone in coping with the priest shortage. Across the country, according to studies published by the Center for Applied Research for the Apostolate (CARA), there was in 2009 "slightly more than one active diocesan priest per parish (1.05) in the United States."  At the present trend by 2035 the estimate of priest per parish is 0.84; the number of Catholics "per active diocesan priest would be 2,210."

At the present moment, according to CARA, there are "about 63,800 Saturday Vigil and Sunday Masses in an average week" in the United States.

There are still some who think priests work only on weekends. They forget about administrative duties, communion calls, anointing the sick, weddings, funerals, fielding complaints, confessions, staff meetings, parish council, finance commission, etc, etc, etc. Priests are not as available, even in emergencies, as many parishioners would like them to be.

The hierarchy's concern for the priest shortage is real. Bishops are constantly urging more prayers for vocations and initiating vocation recruitment programs.

At the same time there have been calls for the development of a new paradigm for priestly service. Those we call priests today normally fulfill three roles; they are priests (sacramental role), they are evangelists (the prophetic role), and they are leaders (the servant/leadership role).

Presbyteros is the term we usually translate as "priest," but it is more accurately rendered "elder." The Greek word for priest is hiereus, one who offers sacrifice. The roles are not necessarily identical.

Is it possible to ordain men who would fulfill the first role (that is, preside at liturgy, shrive people of their sins, anoint the sick, etc) without at the same time serving as professional teachers and administrator/leaders?

Are there men in the parish congregation who could serve as priests and yet remain in secular jobs and be husbands and fathers?

I remember being told by a non-Catholic professor at Vanderbilt University back in 1987, "Your church is going to have to make up its mind which is more important: celibacy or eucharist."

His bold assessment has challenged my thinking all these years.

Once upon a time a gourmet chef took over the day-to-day operations of a highly acclaimed and successful restaurant. The menu was superb, the presentation excellent, patrons numerous, but one of the chef's policies gradually allowed a major problem to develop: poor service. There were not enough waiters. Business suffered.

Applications to serve were numerous, but the gourmet chef  rejected most of them. He insisted that all who served had to be bald! He said that his requirement assured that no patron would ever find a hair in his soup!

New Pope Brings New Hope

Asking priest-friends what they think of the new pope, I hear most of them reply, "I have hope."

Pope Benedict's farewell used the image "disfigured face" to describe the Church of the twenty-first century.

He must have been thinking of the hierarchy's failure to manage the priest-pedophilia problem as well as the scandal emanating from the Vatican bank.

The choice of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as successor to Pope Benedict signaled the electors' intention to pursue a new regimen for repairing the Church and attending to its disfigured face.

Reports from the Vatican suggest that Pope Francis has taken on the challenge like a leader who knows that change is needed and who intends to make those changes.

There is not the least hint that Pope Francis will change dogma, but there is clearly reason to believe that he will alter the way the Church has been doing business.

His decision to appoint Vatican officials back to their old posts on a temporary basis sends a message.

Unlike his predecessors Pope Francis has been having lunch with Vatican employees. A bank employee who attended one such luncheon said, "He is genuinely interested in you and gives you his full attention...I can honestly say, I spent more time talking with this pope than the last two combined."

The menu, the bank employee further noted, "was nothing fancy...just a small salad, some pasta and a chocolate cookie for dessert. To drink, a choice of coffee or tea --No vino! --which you could tell disappointed some of the old guard."

Pope Francis is clearly a pastoral priest. His presence among and in the crowds is not a publicity stunt. He is simply being the open and loving person he has been for decades. The stories told of his behaviors as cardinal (riding the bus, living in simple quarters) give witness to a well-practiced modus operandi.

The hope inspired by the new pope is refreshing. His emphasis is not on externals; he shies away from pomp and circumstance. He is motivated by his spirituality. He knows Jesus.

His washing the feet of women on Holy Thursday upset some pope-watchers. They said, "He broke the law!" (The Holy Thursday rubric in the Roman Missal says, "The men who have been chosen..."). We can only speculate whether there were women among the disciples whose feet Jesus washed at the Last Supper. For Pope Francis, "disciples" obviously includes women.

That Vatican bank employee who cherished his time and luncheon with Pope Francis concluded, "I think he is going to be a very good Pope! And no one is going to tell him what to do. He is his own man. Let's hope he will be with us for a long time!"

The hope inspired by our new pope is like the dawn after a long night. It is a feeling of expectation that things will get better, that the Church will more faithfully reflect the Gospel and more engagingly fulfill its mission and ministry.

When the bishops at the Second Vatican Council analyzed their role in the Church, they said that "bishops should be with their people as those who serve...(that) they should arrange their own lives to meet the needs of the times...(that) they should ensure that the faithful are duly involved in church affairs.." (Christus Dominus, #16).

Pope Francis seems to have taken a page from the council document and from the Gospels.

A Franciscan-Jesuit ---he breathes new hope in an old Church, and the disfigured face is beginning to smile!

Pray for Protection of the Pope

We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

It is clear already that the new Bishop of Rome will not docilely follow the practices and conventions of his immediate predecessors.

His decision not to wear the customary red papal cape before stepping out on the loggia of St. Peter's the night of his election was the first sign that, in the words of Italian journalist Massimo Franco, "the end of the Pope-King and of the Vatican Court is over."

Jorge Brigoglio's previous life-style (his simple accommodations, his riding the bus to work, his pastoral ministry even as cardinal) will obviously carry over into his lifestyle as pope.

It has been reported that when he walked into the papal apartment his initial reaction was, "There's room for 300 people here --I don't need all this space."

The new bishop of Rome sounds more like Jesus of Nazareth and Francis of Assisi ("Go sell all that you have and give to the poor...Take nothing with you on the road...Deny yourself").

Pope Francis explained his choice of the name. He said that a cardinal from Brazil urged him not to forget the poor. That encouragement led him to reflect on Francis of Assisi and three aspects of the saint's life: self-imposed poverty, love of peace, and concern for the environment.

We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

As beloved as he already is, Papa Francesco will inevitably face rejection, ridicule, and even persecution for being different. Bullying simple souls is no more a stranger on the world stage or in Church circles than it is on a school bus or playground.

Some well-meaning souls will reject his way of doing things on the grounds that he undermines the dignity of his office and the authority of the Church.

Some will ridicule him for "catering to the poor," for reflecting the pastoral more than the dogmatic, for threatening the mindset of the more "conservative" members of the Church.

Some will persecute him for his perceived involvement or lack-of-involvement  in response to Argentine politics, for whatever he decides to do about the scandals in the Curia, for his response to pedophilia and its cover-up.

I fear for his life. We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

It is common knowledge that anyone who dares raise his head above the crowd has placed himself in danger.

"They" killed Archbishop Oscar Romero, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Sister Dorothy Stang, lay-missionary Jean Donovan, even Jesus of Nazareth.

Pope Francis' walking among the people, shaking hands, kissing babies, and simply being accessible put him in danger.

We do not pray that he change his modus operandi. May it continue. May his pastoral sensitivity pervade the Church. May his intention to pass on an optimism and hope to younger generations who are looking for spiritual guidance be realized. May his papacy bring about that new Pentecost so intently hoped for at Vatican II.

We must, however, pray for his protection.

Francis the Fourth

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio surprised us all when he took the name "Francis" as Bishop of Rome and pope of the Church.

Cardinal Albino Luciani broke with tradition in 1978 when he took a double name; he chose "John" to honor Pope John XXIII and "Paul" to honor his predecessor Pope Paul VI.

If our historical record is correct, Pope John II (533-535) was the first Bishop of Rome to change his name (unless you count Jesus' changing Simon's name to Peter); he had been Mercurius, and it must have seemed inappropriate for a pope to have the name of a pagan god.

In 938 the Bishop of Pavia in Italy, Peter Canepanova, was appointed pope by the emperor; out of deference to St. Peter, the new Bishop of Rome changed his name to John XIV. Sergius IV in 1009 also had "Peter" as his baptismal name and did not want to have the same official name as the Apostle.

Gregory V (996-999), the first German pope, changed his name from Bruno, and Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), the first French pope, changed his name from Gerbert. There has been the suspicion that both did so in order to sound more "Roman."

The last two popes to keep their baptismal names were Adrian VI (1522-23) and Marcellus II (1555).

Taking a new name upon becoming pope is a custom, not a rule. Cardinal Bergoglio could have become Pope Jorge I. Instead he chose Francis, the first Bishop of Rome to have that name.

Since he is a Jesuit, Cardinal Bergoglio might have been influenced by the example of  Francis Xavier, who died in 1552, one of the original group of seven Jesuits ordained in 1537. Francis Xavier has been called "one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the Church." He is invoked as patron of foreign missions.

Francis de Sales, who died in 1622, is a bishop and doctor of the Church, remembered for his encouraging lay spirituality and for writing his classic Introduction to the Devout Life. He is patron of writers.

And, of course, there is St. Francis of Assisi, who died in 1226, the founder of  the Franciscans. This Francis is known for his simplicity, asceticism, humility, mystical experiences.

I like to think that all three in this triumvirate could be his inspiration.

Francis Xavier lived as a poor man in order to serve the poor. It is said that he slept on the ground and chose a diet of rice and water. He died at age 46.

Francis de Sales, known as a wise, learned, and gentle teacher, explained the teachings of the Church and Bible, urging the faithful to develop their spiritual lives.

Francis of Assisi, according to one story, heard God say to him, "Repair my church," and in his own unique way Francis did just that, calling attention to the church's failings and encouraging its reform.

If the qualities of each Francis surface in the pontificate of Pope Francis I, then the Church of the twenty-first century will have experienced another humble, wise, and reforming leader --just what we need in a church with "a disfigured face."

Perhaps Pope Francis will be added to the triumvirate, and become thereby Francis the Fourth. We must pray for him.

(Father Richard McBrien's Lives of the Saints and his Lives of the Popes are two excellent, easy-to-read sources for learning more about the leaders and inspirers of the Church.)

If I Were Pope...

As the cardinals prepared for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, they met to assess the state of the Church and offer suggestions for the kind of leader needed to deal with the crises which the "disfigured face" of the Church is currently showing to the world.

Laity, religious and clergy around the world have likewise expressed their hopes and expectations for the new papacy.

Most of the priests I know have verbalized their wishes and prayers that the new Bishop of Rome will bring energy and credibility to the Church and its mission.

Among the wishful thinking were recommendations (in no specific order) which I have classified under the heading "If I were pope, I would..."

...auction some Vatican art treasures and give the receipts to help the poor (cf. Mk 10:21)

...ban the cappa magna (the long red cape or train some hierarchs wear) and simplify clerical and liturgical dress (cf. Mt 23:5)

...urge Catholics to focus on their relationship with God and their love for neighbor rather than their religious practices (cf. Mk 7:5-13)

...develop the responsibility and authority of bishops' conferences (cf. Lumen Gentium, 22-23)

...appoint a board of bishops (on a rotating basis) to oversee the work of the Curia (cf. an idea which surfaced during the Second Vatican Council)

...replace the current English translation of the Roman Missal with a translation developed and approved by the English-speaking bishops (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22.2)

...reaffirm the expectation that the faithful be actively engaged in the liturgy, fully aware of what they are doing (cf. Sacosanctum Concilium, 11)

...ordain women as deacons (cf. ancient Church practice)

...restate every human being's "right to freedom in searching for the truth and in expressing and communicating his opinions and in pursuit of art, within the limits laid down by the moral order and the common good" (cf. Pope John XXIII's Pacem In Terris, 12)

...reform the way the papal primacy is exercised without renouncing what is essential to its mission (Pope John Paul II's Ut Unum Sint, 95).

...respond to the victims of the abuse scandal, "do everything that we can to help, support, and heal them; secondly, that such acts be prevented by the proper selection of candidates for the priesthood, as much as possible; and thirdly that perpetrators be punished and be bared from any opportunity to repeat such acts" (cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Light of the World - A Conversation With Peter Seewald p. 28).

...revisit the requirement that limits Catholic theologians to explaining (but never exploring or questioning) the magisterium  (cf. the cooperation between bishops and theologians at Vatican II)

...declare a Year of  the Consecrated Woman, celebrating the vocation, ministry and heritage of religious sisters and nuns (cf. common sense).

The worldwide list of proposals and policies for the new Bishop of Rome would fill volumes. The expression of such hopes and dreams, however, seems to me a healthy sign --that laity, religious and clergy take the mission and ministry of the Church seriously and want very much to be involved in building the Kingdom of God on earth.  For that, "Amen, Alleluia!"

What Kind Of Pope?

I have heard the question asked dozens of times over the past several days: "What kind of pope do you want?"

Variations on that theme include: "What do you want the new Guy to do?" and "If you could choose the new pope, who would it be?"

The responses have been diverse:

"I hope the new pope can clean up the mess in the Vatican. He'll need to insist on transparency and honesty."

"The new pope will have to reform the curia if he hopes to have a successful papacy."

"We need a guy with some charisma --someone who'll restore confidence."

"We need a pope who will get us back on track --stop all this modernizing and get us back to the way the Church used to be."

"He should be a man of prayer, with a deep spiritual life, guided by the Gospel more than the human traditions of a stuffy old bureaucracy."

"I hope the new pope respects and promotes the direction set by Vatican II."

"The new pope is going to have to bring some new, younger people into the Church's leadership, like Cardinal Martini suggested."

"I don't have much hope for change. All the cardinals were appointed by either John Paul or Benedict.--it would take a miracle for us to get somebody who will really read the signs of the times and respond accordingly."

"I pray the Holy Spirit will choose someone who'll clean house."

"The new pope's got to ordain women as deacons, stop using the episcopacy as a reward or  some kind of  honor for officials in church bureaucracy, and finally respect bishops' conferences and collegiality."

"I really don't care who's chosen. He won't affect me. I go to church, say my prayers and try to live a good life. Popes don't do much for the average Catholic."

"Do you think it's too much to ask for another John XXIII?"

The National Catholic Reporter (March 1-14, 2013) published a list of cardinals the NCR considers "Top Ten Contenders." They are scarcely known to most Catholics, but with all the jokes accompanying his name, it is amusing that at the top of their list is Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan. (The amusement is in saying, "We now have  Pope Scola in the Vatican!")

Unlike the last consistory, this time there is no likely candidate. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was practically a shoo-in eight years ago. If the word "likely" were applied to the upcoming election, it would probably modify the noun "Italian."

In the meantime we wait and pray.