Digesting What Pope Francis Said

I’m trying to digest the many thought-provoking and challenging responses Pope Francis made in his now-famed interview with the editor of the Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica. 

He was asked what he thought about an expression St Ignatius used in his Spiritual Exercises: “think with the Church.”

Pope Francis replied that no one is saved alone. He underscored the relationship each individual must have with the human community, and reminded that “the church is the people of God” and explained that “thinking with the Church, therefore, is my way of being a part of this people. And all the faithful, considered as a whole, are infallible in matters of belief, and the people display this infallibiltas in credendo, this infallibility in believing, through a supernatural sense of the faith of all the people walking together.”

He went on, “This is what I understand today as the ‘thinking with the Church’ of which St. Ignatius speaks. When the dialogue among the people and the bishops and the pope goes down this road and is genuine, then it is assisted by the Holy Spirit.”

Then he cautioned that this infallibilitas of all the faithful is not a matter of populism. The hierarchical Church is part of the people of God, “pastors and people together. The Church is the totality of God’s people.” 

He was asked what he thought the Church needed most at this point in history, what he dreamed of for the Church.

Pope Francis replied that the church needs “the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds.”

He went on, “The Church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you.”

Then he cautioned Church ministers that they “must be ministers of mercy above all. The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax.” 

He was asked what he thought about the Roman Curia (the Church’s bureaucracy).

Pope Francis replied that the Curia and its offices are at the service of the pope and the bishops. “They must help both the particular churches and the bishops’ conferences. They are instruments of help.”

Then he cautioned, “In some cases, however, when they are not functioning well, they run the risk of becoming institutions of censorship..” 

He was asked about the relationship between papal primacy and the collegiality of bishops (a hot but unresolved topic at the Second Vatican Council).

Pope Francis replied that the people, the bishops and the pope must walk together. He brought up the idea of synodality (one of the earliest structures in the Church to maintain unity and communion, a coming together to discuss problems, to express differing opinions, and then arrive at a decision).

He went on to say, “Synodality should be lived at various levels. Maybe it is time to change the methods of the Synods of Bishops, because it seems to me that the current method is not dynamic.”

Then he cautioned, “We must walk united with our differences: there is no other way to become one. This is the way of Jesus.”

(Jesuit historian Father John W. O’Malley reports that Pope Francis has read Bishop John R.Quinn’s book The Reform of the Papacy in which Quinn says, “Today’s synods seem distant from the ideal set forth in the council decree on bishops…The tendency since the council would appear to be to restrict the synod as much as possible.” 

I’m trying to digest what Pope Francis said in his famed interview. His responses seem to me to reflect both the letter and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

The full interview was published in the September 30  issue of America magazine (except for one sentence inadvertently omitted from Pope Francis’ reply to a question about women in the life of the Church. The missing sentence began his remarks: “It is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the Church.”)

He went on to say, “The challenge of today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the Church is exercised for various areas of the Church.” 

I suspect I will be trying to digest what Pope Francis said for quite some time.

Pope Francis as Pontiff

In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI sat for an extensive, book-length interview with German journalist Peter Sewald. It was published as Light of the World.

In three previous interviews Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had responded to a series of challenging questions with what critiques described as "frank" and "honest" answers: The Ratzinger Report (1987),  Salt  of the Earth (1996), and God and the World (2002).

Now Pope Francis has followed suit --an interview conducted in August, 2013, by Antonio Spadaro, SJ, with publication on September 19, 2013.

The main-stream press described the interview as "sending shock waves from the Vatican."

Pope Francis is quoted as saying, "The Church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you."

He also said, "During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge. By saying this, I said what the catechism says. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person."

And he said, "The dogmatic and moral teachings of the Church are not all equivalent. The Church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."

The full text can be found at America magazine's online site.

Such remarks (here admittedly taken out of context) brought forth a variety of responses and explanations.

For example, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said in a TV interview,  “I think what he’s saying is, sometimes, if we come across as negative, as complaining too much, we lose the folks. We’ve got to be positive; we’ve got to be fresh; we’ve got to be affirming. ... I think he’s on to something. He’s a good teacher.”

When he was first elected pope, reports emerged that as Provincial Superior, head of all the Jesuits in Argentina, young Father Jorge Bergoglio began his leadership by rolling back his predecessor's changes and returning pre-Vatican II values and lifestyle.

He insisted that moral theology be taught from a Latin text-book, a requirement that proved troubling to the novices who did not know Latin.

Liberation Theology was taboo.

An older Jesuit, interviewed at the time of Bergoglio's election as Bishop of Rome, gave a less than enthusiastic response: "Yes I know Bergoglio. He's a person who has caused a lot of problems in the (Jesuit) Society and is highly controversial in his own country...We have spent two decades trying to fix the chaos that man left us."

In his assessment, British author Paul Vallely in his book Pope Francis: Untying the Knots (Bloomsbury, 2013) writes that despite his demands Bergoglio was described by some colleagues and students as "a marvelous leader," "a very spiritual man, humble with strong convictions," "responsible for attracting a large number of young men to join the Jesuits at a time when the numbers had fallen."

Now, as we assess the style and theology of Papa Francesco, we are aware that Bergoglio at some time and for some reason underwent a spiritual, theological metamorphosis. He comes across as a different man. Vallely believes the change came from experience, personal experience of living with and for the poor.

The pastoral Bergoglio tempered the clerical Bergoglio, and the result is Pope Francis, the "pope of surprises."

Vallely notes in his book that Pope Benedict had returned to the old practice of saying Mass with his back to the people, but "Francis made plain that this practice had been overturned for good reason, to make the people feel more included in the Church's liturgy. If he had ever doubted that, he learned its truth in the slums of Argentina." Again, another assertion that experience, pastoral experience, is formative.

Robert Mickens, Vatican Correspondent for The Tablet, thinks that cardinals and episcopal conferences are waiting to see what the new pope does next. Mickens thinks many bishops are licking a finger and holding it up in the air, trying to determine which way the wind is blowing.

However you assess Pope Francis and his impact upon the Church, you have to admit that he has people talking. His simplicity of lifestyle, his openness to the crowds, his policy of consultation, his concern for the poor, his defense of outsiders, and his appreciation for the environment have all coalesced into a formidable presence in the Catholic Church.

For centuries the term "pontiff" (from the Latin pontifex, which probably means "bridge builder") has been applied to bishops in the Catholic Church. When referring to the pope, the Bishop of Rome, it is usually rendered "Supreme Pontiff."

Although Pope Francis seems to prefer the title "Bishop of Rome," it may be more fitting to apply the designation "pontiff," for his style and his teaching have certainly become a bridge between the hierarchs and the people of God.

Facing East or Facing the People?

Someone showed me a bulletin from his parish. The pastor was announcing that he had decided to offer Mass on the "High Privileged Altar" rather than at the altar facing the people.

He explained that this orientation is more reverential and keeps the priest from taking center stage. He wants to prevent the priest's personality from getting in the way of the Liturgy.

He wrote that from the start Christians faced east when they prayed. This posture, he said, is the time-honored ad orientem.

This facing eastward has been explained as a witness to the rising of the sun which in turn symbolized the universality of God and the source of salvation. For this reason, in some places, churches were built with the altar against the eastern wall.

History, however, muddies this seemingly simple explanation.

In the fourth century Christians in Rome built churches with the altar at the west end of the church, in an apse, and the people sat facing the altar, facing west. The priest, however, stood on the west side of the altar facing east, facing the people.

This architectural arrangement, putting the sanctuary at the west end of the building, was in imitation of the sanctuary of the temple in Jerusalem.

Writing in The Journal of the Institute For Sacred Architecture (vol. 10, 2005), Helen Dietz, PhD, explains that in some places the congregations in these west-facing Roman churches would turn and face east at the time of the consecration, the same direction the priest was facing.

Dietz writes, "Quite obviously, the importance of the people's facing east in the Christian church was that this posture signified they were 'the priesthood of the faithful,' who in this way showed that they joined in the sacrifice offered by the ministerial priest in his and their collective name."

Thus in some architectural arrangements, even when the priest faced east, he was facing the people (ad populum).

By the 8th or 9th century, again depending on the architecture of the church and the placing of the sanctuary, the priest's  position changed and he faced the apse or wall when he stood at the altar, with the people standing behind him.

The meaning of ad orientem changed from "to the east" to "to the wall" or "to the high altar fixed against the wall."  The altar whether on the north end or the south end of the church, whether on the east or the west, became ad orientem.

Priests who today want to celebrate Mass facing ad orientem do not necessarily mean they are facing east; they may mean they are facing the altar which is against the wall.

It was in the light of the liturgical renewal ordered by the Second Vatican Council that liturgists and architects were advised to create a worship space which allowed the presiding priest to face the congregation.

As many liturgists noted, the first Mass was not celebrated with Jesus facing a wall. The first Eucharist was celebrated at table with the disciples gathered around. Such was the custom of the early church.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (as included in the Roman Missal, third edition, 2011) maintains this revision of church architecture and the arrangement for celebrating the liturgy.

Article 303 says, "In building new churches, it is preferable for a single altar to be erected, one that in the gathering of the faithful will signify the one Christ and the one Eucharist of Christ.

"In already existing churches, however, when the old altar is so positioned that it makes the people's participation difficult but cannot be moved without damage to artistic value, another fixed altar, skillfully made and properly dedicated, should be erected and the sacred rites celebrated on it alone. In order that the attention of the faithful not be distracted from the new altar, the old altar should not be decorated in any special way" (GIRM 303).

A  pastor's decision to celebrate Mass ad orientem can find some basis in history, but history shows that ad orientem is open to more than one interpretation.  

Whether a liturgy celebrated on a high altar fixed against the wall with the priest's back to the people is more reverent and prayerful is a matter of varying spirituality, ecclesiology, and even taste.

At this time in the Church's history, the positioning of the priest and people around the altar is the norm. It has been adopted to emphasize community (Christ is present in his people), exercise the common priesthood (all the baptized share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ), and promote the active participation of the people (a primary goal of Vatican II's liturgical renewal).

The ad orientem of today is orientation to Christ with, in and through the people.

That is the germ of the matter.

Recommendations to Committee of Eight Cardinals

Pope Francis has formed a committee of eight (possibly nine) cardinals to advise him on governing the Church, especially in reform of the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston is one of the reformers. He has asked US bishops for their recommendations, and some of the bishops have asked members of their dioceses for suggestions.

One strong recommendation I hope to see  echoes the proposal made at the Second Vatican Council by a patriarch of the Melkite Rite, Maximos IV Saigh.

He recommended the formation of a small group of bishops who would serve on a rotating basis, selected from around the world, as an advisory board for the pope, but also as a committee which would oversee the Curia. The bishops would direct the Curia!

He was responding to the idea that the bishops form a college which carries on the office of the college of apostles.

The New Testament shows that the early Church thought of the apostles, not just Peter, as the authority in the Church. Paul went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and presbyters to settle the issue about whether Gentile converts to Christ had to practice Jewish customs.

Over time Church authority came to be identified with the bishop of Rome and the exercise of that authority was centralized in one man. At Vatican II the bishops wanted to reclaim as a college the authority exercised by the college of apostles. Some members of the Curia were not happy about that idea and worked very hard to derail any such suggestion.

Historian Father John O'Malley believes that collegiality was one of the "issues under the issues" at Vatican II.  He meant that many of the discussions about directives and changes in various areas of Church life often came back to who had authority.

For example, who is in charge of the language in which a given nation worships? Does the pope (Curia) decide the vernacular or does the local conference of bishops? Vatican II decided the bishops had the authority. The US bishops, however, seemed to release that authority when the Curia objected to a proposed English translation of the Roman Missal and insisted on the Curia's translation.

Pope Paul VI offered the bishops a compromise over the collegiality issue when he called for the Synod of Bishops, a collegial body of advisers who, the pope said, would have the task of informing and advising. And, he went on, "It may also have deliberative power when such power is given it by the Sovereign Pontiff."

As retired bishop of San Francisco John R. Quinn noted in his recent book Ever Ancient, Ever New, "In fact, no synod to date has been given deliberative power, and (as a consequence) the synods held since Vatican II have not been a sharing by the bishops in the government of the universal Church but are rather a way for bishops to collaborate with the pope in his primatial function. What large numbers of the bishops at Vatican II desired was a means whereby they would share, as successors of the apostles, with the pope in the government of the universal Church."

A second recommendation for the committee of eight would be to effect a concerted effort to see that the personnel of all the offices of the Curia truly represent the Church's world-wide, multi-cultural membership.

Theologian Yves Congar noted decades ago that the immense diversity of the Church and the broader trends of the world require wide representation in the central office if it is to be an effective leader.

Congar went on to say that "we need to see development beyond a merely 'diplomatic representation,' going beyond simply personnel who are international by origin but still purely Roman by mentality; there needs to be at the heart of the Church a representation of the problems.

"Being out of touch, even a little, with living contact at the base or at the periphery is always dangerous for those in charge...What we are talking about here is not, properly speaking, decentralization, but rather the question of avoiding the danger of isolation."

And a third recommendation is the development of a vehicle for the advice of lay men and women in the administration of the Church.

The active participation of the laity in the liturgy should spill over into the active involvement of the laity in the running of the Church. Just as the Curia is subject to papal primacy, so lay involvement does not threaten the essential hierarchical structure of the Church.

If the Church is the people of God then the people of God ought to have some say in the Church.

While the implementation of these three recommendations may strike fear in the hearts of some members of the Church, the three are fully in keeping with the direction set by Vatican II. Those who oppose the style of Pope Francis with his emphasis on a pastoral Church may have to re-think the essence of Church and the style of the Master.

Helmut Schuller in Cincinnati

Father Helmut Schüller, a co-founder of the Austrian Pfarrer-Initiative, spoke in Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon, July 27, 2013, to a gathering of about 300 concerning the history and goals of the Austrian Priests Initiative.

The session was held at the Fairview-Clifton German Language School and was part of Schüller's three-week, fifteen-city tour (July 16 - August 7), sponsored by a coalition of ten Church reform-minded organizations.

Under the title of  "Catholic Tipping Point Tour," Schüller recalled the start of the Initiative in 2006 as a response to several issues facing the Church in Austria and in the world at large, such as the decline in the number of priests, the closing of parishes, the failure to allow the laity greater sharing of responsibility for the Church's mission and ministry.

After efforts at dialog with Austrian bishops and less than successful meetings with Church officials in Rome, the members of the Initiative decided to make a bold appeal for disobedience of specific Church disciplines, including the prohibition against talking about ordination of women and of married men to the priesthood.

Other areas of concern are the prohibition of preaching by competent lay people as well as the refusal of communion to members of Christian churches, to divorced-remarried people, and to those who have officially left the Church.

Inclusion of a petition for church reform in every liturgy, refusal by priests to travel from parish to parish to parish to offer multiple Masses on Sundays and feast days, and advocating the appointment of a "presiding leader" in every parish (a re-imaging of the priesthood) as an antidote against closing or consolidating parishes are other issues promoted by the Initiative.

In his Cincinnati talk, Schüller described himself as "a common priest, not a rebel,"  as one of many pastors who are trying to lead "the Church into a very uncertain future." He added, "We have to be advocates of the people of the Church."

Schuller, though dubbed by some of his critics as "ein unruhestifter" (a trouble-maker), comes across as a mild mannered, soft-spoken advocate, out-going and yet as eager to listen as to talk.

His remarks were occasionally punctuated by applause from his Cincinnati audience, the majority of whom were women, and most of them senior citizens. (He noted that according to a newspaper item, 80% of the Church's services in the USA are offered by women.)

Schuller was born in Austria on December 24, 1952. He was ordained in 1977, and has served in several positions in the Vienna diocese, including for four years as Vicar General for Cardinal Christoph Schőnborn, who dismissed him from that office for his differing opinions.

He remains today pastor of St. Stephen Church in the village of Probstdorf, serving also as university chaplain at the Catholic University of Vienna and as a youth minister at a Catholic high school.

In November of 2012 the Vatican withdrew from him the title of Monsignor though no reasons were given for the retraction.

Addressing the appeal to disobedience and the reaction it has garnered, Schüller based the Initiative's bold statement on the grounds that in  many cases the hierarchy's expectation of obedience is a means to stifle reform and their use of "obedience" itself lacks control and accountability.

Further, Schüller explained, the members of the Initiative realize there are many cases of silent disobedience every day (e.g., lay persons preaching, or priests' giving communion to non-Catholics) and so the call to disobedience simply articulates what is already happening.

Although the Austrian Priests-Initiative and Schüller in particular are irritants to Cardinal Schőnborn, the Austrian hierarchs are reluctant to stifle or retaliate in light of the overwhelming support the Initiative has garnered among Austrian Catholics.

About 15% of the Austrian priests are publicly members of the Initiative, and some 80% of the laity are judged to support its objectives.

One powerful motivating force energizing the Initiative is the lingering spirit of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Council's teaching on the Church as communio and the recognition of the sensus fidelium.

The Council, Schüller said, was a gift to the Church, not a danger. He also warned against the possible connotation attached to the English term "lay," since in the language of many the term "lay" implies one is uninformed, unprofessional, or even incompetent.

On the evening of his public talk, Schüller also met with a group of Cincinnati-area priests to discuss the Initiative and to affirm that "Wir sind eine Kirche bewegung" (We are a Church movement).

There are approximately 45 priests in the Cincinnati area who are members of the US version of the Initiative, that is, the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP). There are similar associations of priests in Ireland, Australia, England, and Germany.

Though some US hierarchs have forbidden Schüller to speak in church-owned buildings during his tour, his audiences have numbered some 250 in New York, 500 in Boston, 350 in Philadelphia, 500 in Chicago, and the 300 in Cincinnati.

Pastoring By The Book?

Many parishes have  priests who are pastoring by the book.

Upon receiving their new assignments they undertake a ministry of correction. Their first foray is usually a reaction to liturgical practices which they deem contrary to the standards of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).

The old pastor, in their estimation, was lackadaisical about rubrics and unresponsive to directions from the Curia or the diocesan Liturgy Office. His sloppy rule-keeping has diminished respect for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

He has even allowed the laity to participate in roles that are reserved to the clergy.

The new pastor must now come in and clean up the mess, often in the face of misunderstanding, opposition or even hostility from parishioners.

He is, however, willing to endure the tensions that follow from his corrective measures for the sake of doing it right, of getting things back to the way they should be.

He quotes documents in support of his changes. He is simply asking parish members to respect his office, accede to his education, accept his sincere efforts to establish a liturgy and a parish that is united in its uniformity to the directives and decrees. He can justify by the book what he says and does.

This pastoring by the book, however, is only one side of a pastor's role. The  late theologian Bernard Häring, C.SS. R., in his book Priesthood Imperiled balances the picture.

Häring advises priests to "concentrate all your attention and energies on becoming, as it were, a kind of sacrament, a visible and convincing sign of healing, forgiveness, and nonviolence as much as is possible!"

He continues, "The priesthood is not at all a step upward on the social ladder, but rather a particular commitment to descend, in humility and service, to where the people are..."

Priests who govern by the book, however, may cringe at Häring's reservations about ritualism: "Some fifty years ago, ritualism was one of the major plagues in the Church...Ritualism in any form can simultaneously become a humbling and self-exalting sickness...Even though extreme cases of ritual scrupulosity and mean-spirited control have greatly diminished, ritualism still exists...it remains a most serious obstacle to inculturation and liturgical spontaneity."

Häring did not oppose laws or rituals. He was, after all, the author of the groundbreaking The Law of Christ  (1966, English edition), a three-volume work on moral theology for priests and laity. Two decades later he issued a new three-volume comprehensive presentation on Catholic moral theology titled Free and Faithful in Christ.

No, Häring proposed a balanced approach to morality and to priesthood, but he would suggest that those who choose to "do it by the book" must include the Scriptures as the balancing book in their arsenal of pastoral practices.

"Priests," Häring insisted, "can never meditate enough on the four songs of the Servant [Is 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12], considered by Jesus to be his program for life and service, and, therefore, also the plan for his followers."

Pastoring by the book is only half the practice. The Gospel and Jesus' style of pastoring are equally if not more essential guides for being faithful to the role of priest/pastor.

We priests cannot pastor by the book --we can justify what we say and do only by the books!

AUSCP Meeting: Agenda and Votes

About 200 priests from across the country assembled in Seattle, Washington, June 24-27, for the second annual assembly of the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP).

Key-note speakers addressed issues related to the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium.

Among the assembly's agenda was consideration of 15 proposals offered by members as potential resolutions from the AUSCP.

The pattern of acceptance and rejection of the proposals suggests that the AUSCP is taking a moderate stand in its efforts to renew the Church and support Vatican II.

The association voted to accept a proposal to promote ongoing discussion of and support for changes in Canon Law which would allow the ordination of women to the order of the diaconate.

Membership, however, rejected the proposal calling for study of and open discussion for the ordination of women and married men to the priesthood.

The proposal to urge the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to encourage the re-introduction of general absolution (in reference to the Sacrament of Penance) in U. S. parishes was also passed.

Other proposals rejected included: asking the USCCB to appoint a bishop as liaison to the AUSCP; asking the pope to allow use of the former (1974) Sacramentary; asking that the selection of diocesan bishops become a more transparent process in which the local churches have a voice.

Discussions about the various proposals included highly nuanced argumentation, not necessarily opposed to some resolutions in principle but rejecting them as worded or with understanding that corollaries to the proposal may be misunderstood or misdirected.

Journalist Bob Kaiser, who was Time magazine's correspondent at the Council, offered anecdotes about his experiences and perceptions. He recalled the many times  he had seated around his dinner table some of the "stars" of the Council: bishops, theologians (Rahner, Kung, Congar), engaging them in assessing the struggles and direction set by the Council.

He said again and again, "The Council was a learning experience for the bishops."

The current Tablet journalist at the Vatican Bob Mickens spoke about the election of Pope Francis and the effect his unusual papal style is having on the Vatican bureaucracy and on bishops' conferences around the world.

He noted that some have criticized Papa Francesco for change only in style, but Mickens reminded the assembly that historian John O'Malley insists that after all is said and done style turns out to be substantive.

Theologian Catherine Clifford and canon lawyer Jim Coriden addressed issues rising from Lumen Gentium and the efforts of some people to restrict the aggiornamento Pope John XXIII sorely wanted for the Church.

Priest/pastor/author Pat Brennan was unable to speak to the assembly because of illness. Bishop Donald Trautman, former ordinary of the Erie diocese, substituted, urging the AUSCP to continue its efforts at renewal and to enter into dialogue with the episcopacy.

Among AUSCP's goals and objectives for 2013 is widening awareness that the AUSCP exists, building bridges between the AUSCP and religious men and women, raising funds to develop a support staff, and inviting brother priests to gatherings which engage the vision of Vatican II.

Common prayer, meals, discussions and recreation created a stronger bond among the nearly 200 who attended. Total membership is slightly less than 1000 priests.

AUSCP was founded in 2011.

The AUSCP website is http://www.uscatholicpriests.org/