Pope Francis, Political Leaders, and the smell of sheep

Politicians would love to have Pope Francis’ approval ratings.  His popularity crosses party lines and spills over the borders of the tiny state he heads. The spiritual leader of the Catholic Church may be the most influential and galvanizing leader on the world stage. Leadership traits alone cannot fully explain the “Francis effect”.

Leadership is more than a mastery of skills 

Francis is a case study in leadership; he has every attribute that shows up on checklists for good leaders. He is willing to take risks and to effect change. He delegates and allows people to do their jobs. He seeks advice from different voices, including dissenting ones. He will act unilaterally if necessary. He puts the good of the organization first. And, while good leaders are accessible, Francis finds novel ways to be present to people. He leads by example.

Politicians share many of these traits. Yet, as we are seeing during this election campaign here at home, as well as south of the border, few politicians enjoy the same level of popularity as the pope.  In my view, this is because leadership cannot be boiled down to a checklist of behaviors. 

Leadership requires more than the mastery of a set of skills.  An outstanding leader also communicates, through words and actions, the person that he is and the values that inform his life. We might refer to this as the leader’s spirituality.

Apart from all of his leadership qualities, I think that people are attracted to the spirituality of Francis. His humility and respect for others reflect his understanding of service, and his commitment to placing people, not dogma, at the center of his papacy.

Politicians should take on the smell of many different sheep

It would be unfair to make a direct comparison between the leadership style of Francis and those individuals presently seeking the top job in the nation.  After all, Francis does not have to worry about getting elected or coming up with a platform that appeals to a majority of voters.  But there is one page from his playbook that national party leaders might consider imitating.

Francis inherited a church rife with problems. He identified one of these problems as clericalism, the focus on privilege, status and power that separates priests from the people they are supposed to serve. One way to combat the tendency towards clericalism is to take on the smell of sheep.  “Priests”, said Francis, “should be shepherds living with the smell of sheep.”  

Our national party leaders say they walk and talk with ordinary Canadians. They speak eloquently about what the average Canadian thinks. Each of them would have us believe that he alone has the pulse of the nation.  But, it is obvious from watching the televised coverage of the leaders’ tour that no one is taking on the multitude of smells that permeate the pasture. 

The majority of people who attend the campaign events are party faithful. In fact, some events are by invitation only.  Campaign organizers carefully select the individuals who stand adoringly behind the leader, nodding in agreement as he presents his platform and denigrates that of the other guys.

The political backdrop of faces sends a visual message of diversity and support for the leader. The group is there to make the leader seem like one of us, to humanize him and the party’s policies, and to persuade us to enter its sheepfold.

image courtesy of khunaspix at freedigitalphotos.net

Our national party leaders are accustomed to the smell of their own sheep pen. That is not necessarily bad, but it limits perspective. Leaders may miss the bleating of dissonant voices with good ideas; voices that could help the country become more prosperous and equitable.

This hanging around at the center of one’s pen does not end with the campaign; it makes it way into government in the form of partisanship.

The center of the sheep pen does not afford a complete view of the pasture. As Francis observed while visiting a parish at the edge of Rome shortly after he became pope, “We understand reality better not from the center, but from the outskirts.”

In an election campaign, party leaders try to convince voters that their party has the best ideas. After the election, the top dog would do well to seek perspectives and incorporate worthy ideas that come from outside the party fold.

Laudato Si': Care for our Common Home

Dubbed the "climate change encyclical",  Laudato Si' is really about relationships.

In Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis calls the world to rethink and transform the “outdated criteria which continue to rule the world.”

From the first page, this encyclical hooked me with its straightforward and direct language, occasionally surprising me with its bluntness, such as when Francis described the world as resembling a “pile of filth”, or criticized politicians for lacking “breadth of vision.” Other times, the language is more poetic, particularly when the pope praises the beauty of creation.

In Laudato Si’, Francis attempts to gather the thought of the universal church on the connection between the environment and social issues. Not only does he refer to the teachings of his predecessors, Francis makes numerous references to statements on the environment from Catholic bishops’ conferences around the world. He also devotes several paragraphs to the teaching of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. 

Although it has been dubbed “the climate change encyclical”, the discussion on climate change is only a small portion of Laudato Si’.  Those who focus on the pope’s comments on climate change miss the point. This encyclical is about three key relationships – humanity’s relationship with God, with the created world, and with one another – and it reflects on the problems existing within the web of these relationships.

At the root of the environmental crisis, says Francis, is a “misguided anthropocentrism” that places human beings at the center. In our hubris, we have fallen prey to “unrestrained delusions of grandeur”. We seek mastery over nature instead of respecting it as a sacred gift. We are turning ““a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness” into something that “is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”. 

Francis talks about the utilitarian mindset that leads us to treat others with disregard, valuing them only in so far as they are useful to us. We are more interested in convenience and consumption, economics and power than in the intrinsic dignity of the human person and nature. In the theology of this encyclical, our lifestyle and mindset blind us to the destruction of the environment and deafen us to the cries of the poor.

Francis cautions that if we continue to see ourselves as independent from others and as separate from nature, our attempts to heal the environment will be piecemeal at best. Healing the environment requires healing the other two key relationships; “our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism dressed up in ecological garb”.  A true ecological approach is therefore always a social approach; “it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”.  

Less we feel overwhelmed and discouraged by the reality of the challenges facing humanity, the encyclical offers hope.  Human beings have the capacity to transform the present environmental and social crisis, but it will require a change of heart and attitude.  We will do well to heed an ancient lesson common in religious traditions,  ‘less is more’, and to cultivate a spirit of moderation that is happy with fewer goods even if it is contrary to today’s culture of consumption and waste.

From developing enforceable international environmental polices to small individual actions, everyone has a part to play in caring for our common home.  We renew the social fabric, break down indifference, and forge a shared identity, says Francis, when we promote the common good and defend the environment.  “Social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society.” 

Laudato Si’ challenges us, individually and collectively, to confront the environmental crisis and to resolve the inequalities of human society. The future hangs in the balance of our response.

Pope Francis calls the Curia to a conversion of heart and mind

"...the significance of his comments should not be restricted to criticism of the Curia or to a commentary on the politics of the Vatican. The Pope’s message has implications for human conduct everywhere."

It wasn't a "have yourself a merry little Christmas" greeting

The Christmas greeting that Pope Francis delivered to members of the Roman Curia was anything but “have your self a merry little Christmas.”  Described in the press as a “blistering attack”, a “public rebuke”, and a “scathing critique” of the Curia, Francis called his brother bishops to account for fifteen “curial diseases”. 

While the Curia was the target audience for the pontiff’s address, the rest of us might think twice before we applaud this public dressing down of the “princes of the church” and shake our fingers at them; the Pope’s message is applicable to all.  

Francis catalogues fifteen "curial diseases"

Using the image of the Church as the mystical body of Christ, Francis warned that the Curia, like any body, is exposed to diseases. “A Curia which is not self-critical, which does not keep up with things, which does not seek to be more fit, is a sick body,” the pontiff said in describing “the disease of thinking we are immortal, immune or downright indispensable”. This was the first in the pontiff’s list of “the more common diseases” that affect the life of the Curia, which, he said is constantly called to “improve and grow in communion, holiness and wisdom”. 

Francis named another fourteen sinful attitudes and behaviors. Other “curial diseases” include “the Martha complex of excessive busyness”, “mental and spiritual petrification”, “excessive planning and functionalism”,  “poor coordination”, “spiritual Alzheimer’s”, “rivalry and vainglory”, “existential schizophrenia”, “gossiping, grumbling and back-biting”, “idolizing superiors”, “indifference to others”, “a funereal face”, “hoarding”, “closed circles” and  “worldly profit (and) forms of self-exhibition”. 

While the pontiff’s frank and unflattering appraisal of the state of the Curia will not  endear him to his detractors, Francis remains committed to reforming the culture of the Vatican. He has been leading by example, chipping away at clericalism, with its culture of superiority and privilege. With his catalogue of “curial diseases”, Francis continues to challenge the members of the Curia to reform their hearts and minds, saying that his reflections were to be “for all of us a help and a stimulus to a true examination of conscience” in preparation for the holy feast of the nativity.

While many see this as an attack that will draw the battle lines between the Pope and his opponents, it is also an invitation to conversion coming from a man who takes the need for his own conversion seriously, and who despite the title of “his holiness” refers to himself as “chief of sinners”. Francis is not asking any more of these cardinals than he asks of himself.  Individually and as a body, these men are to be exemplary servant-leaders.

After addressing the Curia, Francis met with the employees of the Vatican and their families. He is, incidentally, the first pope to do so. In his remarks to them, he referred to his speech to the Curia; he encouraged them to use it as a starting point for their own examination of conscience in preparation for Christmas and the New Year.

An invitation to reform our hearts and minds

In my view, through the public nature of these two events held on the same day, Francis invites all of us to reflect upon his comments in light of our own lives, our communities of worship, and our places of work. While the Curia was the primary audience for the Pope’s rather unusual Christmas greeting, the significance of his comments should not be restricted to criticism of the Curia or to a commentary on the politics of the Vatican. The Pope’s message has implications for human conduct everywhere.

The “curial diseases” that Francis describes are linked to self-absorption and to a preoccupation with advancing one’s self in the eyes of the world, frequently at the expense of others. They are linked to a false sense of autonomy, to forgetting that we live, move and have our being in the context of our relationships with others and with God. None of us are immune to these diseases. I know that I recognized myself in some of them.

With a New Year upon us, we might think about the ways these “curial diseases” find a home in us, and formulate our New Year’s resolutions accordingly. We may find ourselves feeling uncomfortable and exposed along with the members of the Roman Curia.

Link to the full text of Francis's speech

Synod on the family will test the Pope's credibility

This column was published on October 10, 2014.

A pivotal moment in Pope Francis's papacy

The synod on the “Pastoral care of the family in the context of evangelization” could be a pivotal moment in Pope Francis’s papacy, demonstrating the degree to which the bishops of the world accept the pope’s vision for Roman Catholicism.

In a groundbreaking interview with the Jesuit magazine America in September 2013, Francis spoke boldly about the need for the Church to engage with the world, to focus less on questions of sexual morality and more on the merciful love of God.  He likened the Church to a field hospital, healing wounds and touching hearts; and he cautioned against a Church that is too much like a laboratory, shut off from everyday life and focused on a “compendium of abstract truths.”

It is my view that these two images of the Church will be at odds, vying for precedence over the outcome of the synod. While the synod will not change Church teaching, it could change pastoral practices. The synod will either chart a new course, or reiterate the same old attitudes that a majority of Catholics have already rejected.

In the west, there are great expectations for change in the Church’s attitude and practice towards divorced Catholics who have remarried without obtaining an annulment from the Vatican. These expectations have arisen in large part due to the pope’s pastoral style and the groundwork laid prior to the opening of the synod.

In advance of the synod, Francis took a risk; he asked the world’s Catholics to respond to a questionnaire on the family. This novel approach, coming from a centuries old institution where all decision-making powers reside with a male clergy, engaged lay people, and gave them hope that they might finally have a meaningful voice in the hierarchical church. In the west, those voices make known that the Church is like the laboratory Francis wants to avoid; responses indicate that there is a significant gap between the lived experience of Catholics and Church teachings.

Francis took another risk when he invited his theologian, Cardinal Walter Kasper, to address the world’s cardinals this past February.  Kasper, with support of the pope, spoke to the possibility of relaxing the rules so that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could receive communion.

A missionary field hospital versus a sterile laboratory

The German cardinal’s approach, which is to re-interpret and adapt Church teaching so that its pastoral practices respond to the realities of people’s lives, is in line with the image of the Church as a field hospital. But, Kasper’s views are not universally well regarded.  Some bishops, notably Cardinal Raymond Burke of the United States, seem attached to the laboratory. They have publicly rebutted Kasper’s position, putting limits on mercy and insisting that nothing around communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can change.

As much as the communion question has galvanized the west, it is only one topic with which the synod will wrestle. There are other challenges facing the family, and these vary around the world. Some of them, such as AIDS, violence and migration, which affect life and limb, are more acute problems, in my opinion, than the question of communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

Still, the question could create some high drama inside the synod room as bishops struggle to balance doctrine and pastoral practice in the face of today’s realities and according to Francis’s vision. 

This pope’s words and actions indicate that he wants a more open and missionary church, a field hospital not a laboratory. Has the pope’s imagery of the Church, and his beautifully evocative language of God’s mercy and love penetrated the hearts of the bishops who will make the decisions? And if not, what will be the pope’s response?

The pope's credibility is on the line with this synod

The final results of the synod on the family, which will not be known until after the 2015 meeting of the bishops, will demonstrate the influence of the “Francis effect”, and the degree to which his brother bishops accept his vision.  While the topic may be the family, the pope’s credibility is on the line with this synod.

World Cup 2014: Did the bishops of Brazil miss the pope's memo?

Are the Bishops of Brazil and Pope Francis on the same page when it comes to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, or did the Bishops miss their CEO’s memo?

At the start of the tournament, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil added their voice to that of Brazilians who for months had been protesting their government’s lavish spending on the tournament. When millions of Brazil’s citizens lack basic needs and are living in poverty, the construction of enormous stadiums was hard to justify.

The bishops issued a brochure in the shape of a “red card” to express their concern “regarding the inversion of priorities in the use of public money that should go to health, education, basic sanitation, transportation and security”.  They were concerned, too, about the displacement of the homeless, and an increase in sexual tourism and human trafficking. 

The bishops want the 2014 World Cup to be more than “bread and circuses”, more than a well-orchestrated government distraction from Brazil’s social and political challenges, and are pushing for reforms. Through a campaign called “Steilpass” (translated either as “the decisive turning point”, or, in soccer lingo,  “assist”), the Brazilian bishops, in collaboration with the Conference of Religious in Brazil, presented the Brazilian government with ten proposals focused on building a more just society.  Among the proposals are calls for universal health care, access to a complete public education, meaningful work for all, promotion and protection of youth from violence, respect for cultural diversity, and democratic control of justice and the media.

The bishops’ message to government seems to stand in contrast to the cordial message of Pope Francis on the opening of the tournament. While Francis makes no overt references to Brazil’s problems, the shortcomings of human relationships are implicit in his message.

Francis looks at the world’s beautiful game as a metaphor for the improvement of the human person and, therefore, of society.  “Football”, said the pontiff, “can and should be a school for building a ‘culture of encounter’ which allows for peace and harmony among peoples”. 

Francis draws three lessons from sport that can contribute to peace.  The first is the need to train so that one can grow in virtue.  The second is to look to the common good because “in life, when we are fominhas (individualistic and egoistic), ignoring those who surround us, the entire society is damaged”.  And, the third is to respect both one’s teammates and opponents. The pope indicated that teamwork and respect for others are key components in winning both on the pitch and in life.

“No one wins by himself, not on the field or in life!” said Francis, adding “that by learning the lessons that sports teach us, we will all be winners, strengthening the bonds that tie us together.”

Despite the difference in the tone and content of the message of the Brazilian bishops and that of the pope, their underlying substance is not all that radically different. Both are concerned with the dignity of the human person and the flourishing of human society.

Francis encourages individuals to forgo selfishness and to seek peace and harmony with one another for the good of the entire human family, while the bishops urge those in positions of power to use the resources at their disposal for the advancement of the common good. Whereas the bishops spotlight the messiness of human society, the pope illuminates the ability of the individual to help tidy the mess.

The bishops and the pope have the same currency in hand; their messages are different sides of the same coin. Flip the coin, and on both sides there is a call to conversion, healing and renewal for the sake of social justice, or, in soccer lingo, “fair play”.

The digital environment is a double-edged sword

From telephone operators to text messaging

"Vintage Telephone" courtesy of Stoon/
 Free  digital photos.net

Communication technology has come a long way in a short time.  In my lifetime, we have moved from twice daily mail delivery and phones that required the services of an operator to connect callers, to the instantaneous communication of smart phones and text messaging. At the click of a mouse, we can “join the conversation” on any topic, or post our thoughts and images online for the entire world to see. 

The ability to be digitally connected around the clock creates meaningful opportunities for human interaction, but it also comes with some challenges; the digital environment can be a double-edged sword.

Technology can bring people closer, or separate them

On the plus side, technology enhances our ability to stay in touch with family and friends. Recently, my family enjoyed our own version of cross-country check-up via a three-way Skype call on the big screen TV with family members tuning in from Halifax, Montreal and Trail.  While it was not quite as good as sitting around the kitchen table  playing Settlers of Catan, it was an acceptable option for being together under the circumstances.

Just as technology can bring us together, it can also separate us, even to the extent that it can create distance between people in the same room.  I can think of no better example of this than the manner in which we frequently use smart phones. How often have you been in the company of a person who is obsessively checking their phone? In this case, the technology, despite its many excellent applications for augmenting communication, interferes with our ability to be truly present to those who are right in front of us.

A smorgasbord of options - healthy and not so healthy

The digital environment presents us with a smorgasbord of options for everything – current events, documentaries, online learning, and entertainment of many varieties. The Internet makes it possible for us to stretch our understanding of others and the world from the comfort of our recliners.   The accessibility of quality entertainment, online learning, and probing news analysis is truly a boon to human development.

On the down side, the communications media can also provide a platform for the expression of some of the shadowy sides of human nature. Cyber-bullying and access to pornography come to mind, as do television shows of the Jerry Springer variety, and reality television that makes a virtue out of stabbing others in the back.  Not all the options served up for consumption at the smorgasbord are healthy and wholesome.

Runners have a saying, “Garbage in, garbage out”, which means that what you eat prior to a run affects performance.  Our use of digital technology and our media choices can have a similar effect on our mind and relationships.  If we opt for a steady diet of mindless, violent, or sexually explicit entertainment, we may begin to treat others with less than the respect they deserve, and if we always choose sensational newscasts over thoughtful analysis, we run the risk of mistaking human tragedy for entertainment.

Pope Francis's message for World Communications Day

In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Francis writes, “Communication is about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God”, and his message encourages us to think of communication in terms of “neighbourliness”. The communications media and digital environment can help us become like the Good Samaritan who saw the wounded man as his neighbour and crossed the road to care for him. As the Good Samaritan  “tended the wounds of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them”, our communication can become like a “balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts.”

When we use digital technology and the communications media wisely, they are a powerful force for connecting people and for fostering positive human interactions.  On its own, the digital environment is neither inherently good nor bad; we decide which edge of the sword to use. 

We are our brother's keeper: message for the World Day of Peace

In his message for the 47th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis calls every man and woman to the universal vocation of fraternity.  

In Fraternity as the foundation of peace and as the pathway to peace, the pope speaks about the harmful effects of poverty, war, corruption, organized crime and environmental degradation on our ability to live peacefully with one another.  While the obstacles to world peace are communal in nature and difficult to overcome, the message is personal and social, realistic and hopeful.

The biblical foundations of fraternity

Francis refers to the biblical story of two brothers, Cain and Abel, to explain the concept of fraternity. In the story, Cain murders Abel, and God holds Cain accountable for his failure to care for and protect his brother.  The pope writes that the story of Cain and Abel illustrates our “profound identity and vocation” to live as brothers and sisters, even as it demonstrates our “tragic capacity to betray that calling.” Despite this capacity to ignore our identity and to deny our vocation, we have an “irrepressible longing for fraternity” which forms us into communities and peoples, and enables us to overcome differences and embrace one another.

Francis explains that the fraternal imperative to live in peace with one another resides in the transcendent fatherhood of God and in the cross of Christ.  God’s “extraordinarily concrete and personal love” for every man and woman is a powerful transformative force that leads to conversion and makes fraternity possible. 

Fraternity is difficult

Still, fraternity as the pathway to peace is difficult. As Francis realistically notes, fraternity requires “a perennial exercise of empathy, of listening to the hopes and sufferings of others, even those furthest away from me, and walking the demanding path of that love which knows how to give and spend itself freely for the good of all our brothers and sisters.”

While the basic idea of fraternity (do good to everyone) is pretty simple, I consider its implementation rather challenging. In a similar way as God called to Cain, “Where is your brother?”, fraternity calls us to take responsibility for the well being of others whether we know them, or not; like them, or not; agree with them, or not.  Fraternity makes us answerable for our brothers and sisters around the world.  To Cain’s retort to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”,  our answer must be “yes” if we are serious about building peace.

Our vocation to live in harmony makes demands of us that we would perhaps prefer to ignore. It requires that we step out of our comfortable lives, reassess our attitudes, and then actually do something to help overcome obstacles to peace.  We may find it difficult to relate to the realities that threaten the lives of so many people around the world, or we may become indifferent to the plight of those whom we do not know. Alternatively, if we want to help, the sheer magnitude of the problems may overwhelm us with feelings of helplessness and prevent us from taking action that will help build those pathways to peace.

Pope Francis’s message for the 47^th World Day of Peace reminds us that without a “lively awareness of relatedness” (and I believe relatedness implies action), peace will remain an unattainable dream. We begin to build pathways to peace, in our hearts, in our homes and in the world, when we act upon our vocation to cherish one another as brothers and sisters of the same human family.

Pope Francis, Time Magazine's Person of 2013

After a mere nine months on the job, Time magazine has named Pope Francis its Person of the Year for 2013.  The editors at Time award the annual distinction to the individual whom they consider the most influential global newsmaker of the year.  What is it about Francis that makes him such a sensation?

Francis became pope at a time when all the news streaming out from the Vatican was negative. The clerical sexual abuse scandal, Vatileaks, the Vatican’s paternalistic attitude towards women religious in the United States, the refusal to discuss the ordination of women, and the endless focus on sexual morality had disheartened many faithful Catholics. While many were wondering how much longer they could remain part of the church, others had already left.

Into this milieu, a relatively unknown cardinal, José Bergoglio, burst onto the world stage and captured the hearts of Catholics and non-Catholics alike with lightning speed.  Choosing the name Francis, after the saint known for the renunciation of his wealth, his embrace of poverty and his radical commitment to the gospel, Pope Francis signaled that change was afoot. 

Initiating change

At the institutional level, Pope Francis is initiating change.  He has set up committees to address the church’s dismal record on child sex abuse and to restructure the Vatican Bank. On a pastoral level, he has called a synod to discuss the issues facing families. While there is nothing unusual about a pope calling a synod, Francis is asking ordinary Catholics for input in advance of the synod through the circulation of a questionnaire that is available online in most dioceses.

Spontaneity and humility

Since his election as pope, Francis has surprised the world with his spontaneity and humility. He is a man who eschews both the trappings and protocols of the highest clerical office in the church. He drives around the Vatican in a 1984 Renault, a gift from a priest who served the poor, instead of the papal Mercedes.  He acknowledges the institutional sinfulness of the church, as well as his personal failure to perfectly follow Christ and receives the sacrament of reconciliation bi-weekly.  He reaches out to the disadvantaged and wounded, not only caressing a man disfigured with neurofibromatosis, but also by walking among the poor at night in order to feed them.  He meets the temporal and spiritual needs of those with whom he comes into contact.

Authentic, not about photo-ops

This man, who is the subject of so many photos, is not about the photo-op. This man, whom some call “Francis, the Frugal”, and who promotes a “culture of encounter” between the church and the world, is about following Christ. Francis brings the Gospel message of hope into lives that are broken, and into a world where the news is generally negative.

An extraordinary ability to make God present

In my view, Pope Francis has an extraordinary ability to make God present to people. He reminds the world that the message of Christmas is a message for everyday: God is with us. He shows the church and the world that God is not an abstract theological concept wrapped up in dogma and doctrine, nor a far off deity unconcerned with the affairs of humans.  Francis carries the healing mission of the church into the world.

This global newsmaker is about much more than headlines, good public relations and snappy photos. He is about the compassionate mercy of God, and that attracts attention.

Can Pope Francis bring Catholics home?

People want  leaders who practice what they preach, and Francis seems to be doing just that. Will his charismatic charm and concern for the poor be enough to bring Catholics home?

In my last post, I mentioned that I was on vacation. I had such a relaxing vacation that I completely forgot to post my most recent column. Here it is, with a little preamble not included in print versions.

A few weeks ago, I had a call from a reader, an older gentleman of the Anglican persuasion. He expressed his admiration for Pope Francis, and his hopefulness for change within the Roman Church. We had a lively and interesting conversation, and I was grateful for both his support of my column and for his comments on Catholicism. 

I have been surprised at the amount of interest that people are showing in Francis. He seems to be touching the hearts of people, which brings us to the question of my column: "Will Pope Francis’s charismatic charm and concern for the poor be enough to bring Catholics home?"

Church attendance on the decline

Research surveys support what most people already know.  Church attendance is declining and has been for decades.  In Canada, 28% of Catholics attend Mass at least once a month, compared to 40% in 2004.  In the United States in 2012, 24% of Catholics attended Mass at least once a week compared to 47% in 1974.

While I have no idea what the stats are for Catholics in my little neck of the woods, I can certainly provide anecdotal evidence of declining church attendance.   I have sat through numerous meetings over the years grappling with dwindling finances that correlate with shrinking congregations, and listening to laments about the lack of young people in the pews.  Only a handful of children attend the after school religious education program, and a significant percentage of students enrolled in our Catholic school are non-Catholic.  Sunday after Sunday, the spaces that deceased parishioners formerly occupied remain empty; no one is rushing into fill the gaps. In the last three decades, my family has belonged to three parishes within a ten-mile radius, and our current parish church is next on the local chopping block.

The generalized lack of interest amongst baptized Catholics to practice the faith concerns bishops, priests, religious, pastoral councils, and parents alike.  Dioceses are desperately trying to turn the tide through evangelizing already baptized Catholics.  The Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia, for example, launched a sophisticated advertising campaign called “Catholics Come Home” to entice Catholics back to church.  Other dioceses are offering adult faith formation courses, and promoting youth programs modeled on the hip style of evangelical churches.

Opting out of institutional Catholicism

Catholics are opting out of institutional Catholicism for many reasons. Church teaching on sexuality, the treatment of women, and the clergy sexual abuse scandal are among the most often cited reasons for leaving the Church. 

Pope Francis has begun to address the sexual abuse scandal that so rightly outraged Catholics in North America and Europe. Although it remains to be seen how the Vatican will implement the pope’s directive to  “act decisively” to protect minors, help victims, and deal with the guilty, Francis wasted no time in making his views known.

With regard to women in the Church, Francis shocked some Catholics when he included women in the annual Holy Thursday ritual of the washing of the feet. While washing the feet of a woman in detention is a far cry from the ordination of women, Francis’s action demonstrates an inclusive attitude towards women not previously seen from the Vatican.

On matters of sexuality, Pope Francis upholds the teaching of the Church on gay marriage, birth control, divorce and remarriage. I think all that we can realistically expect from Francis in these areas is a compassionate response to individuals who, in the eyes of the Church, do not measure up to its high standards of sexual morality and holiness.

The place where I believe Francis has a real chance for making inroads with Catholics and others is in his genuine concern for the poor. People see a huge disconnect between the suffering of the poor and the wealth of the Vatican with its ostentatious pomp and ceremony. Even though thousands of religious and lay Catholics are walking with the poor, theological speeches about the poor disappoint when there is no visible action from the Vatican: the credibility of the Church suffers.

Our world needs authentic leaders. Catholic or otherwise, we want leaders who practice what they preach, and Francis seems to be doing just that.  Will it be enough to bring Catholics home? Possibly not, but it may be enough to stop the bleed.