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Jeanne Moy's avatar

I posted this comment in the past but in light of the many who are frightened for the Church and the prospect of Francis changing doctrine, I'll post them again.

I used to be concerned that Pope Francis would attempt to change Church doctrine in several areas until I read an interesting blog post by Larry Chapp. I may be paraphrasing badly, but I got from the blog an understanding of Francis that has helped me get through this time. Mr. Chapp suggested 1) Pope Francis believes in the doctrines of the Church and has no intention of changing them but 2) he thinks most people find it too hard to live up to them. This is in contrast to what the Pillar recently pointed out about St. John Paul II - that he thought everyone could become a saint.

Many feel that Francis is coming from a place of mercy and compassion (for us poor schleps who can’t manage life) and I believe Francis himself thinks this is what drives him. However, it smacks of the “bigotry of low expectations” - an attitude which infected my own experience of 17 years of Catholic education - back in the mid 60’s to mid 80’s. While some of my religious ed classes at least laid some foundation for greater understanding, it was not until my mid 20’s that God let fall my way books of really wonderful Catholic writers who opened up the true Joy of our faith - and it wasn’t in being content to fall short. Like so many of my generation I frequently found myself wondering why was I not taught this or that beautiful thing in the Catholic schools of my youth? Pope Francis is from the same generation as many of my religious instructors and seems to assert the same wink and nod attitude that past teachers gave to the Church’s teachings on contraception to many other matters in the Church. He won’t change doctrine, so I don’t worry about the Church going sideways that way, but I do feel sadness that the beauty of our faith is not fully passed down to the next generation with this attitude that it’s all just too hard to strive to be a saint. Indeed, the bigotry of low expectations too often leads to a boring and lukewarm “faith” rather than the radically different way a Catholic should view this life in this world.

I love Bishop Barron’s take on the Gospel account of the Road to Emmas. Barron points out first that the two disciple are headed out of Jerusalem, headed in the wrong direction. Jesus first walks with them and listens to their anxieties - he accompanies them, but then he teaches them the truth of the scriptures and the events of the past days - he sets them straight - and corrects them. This causes their hearts to burn with Joy, which is what our faith fully lived out gives us - joy, even in our sorrows. Eventually the two disciples head back to Jerusalem, headed again in the right direction. We cheat people of this joy when we are afraid to speak truth with love.

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Joe McCarthy's avatar

HBD, JD!

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