There was a great article in this Sunday’s New York Times
entitled: CONSERVATIVE U.S. CATHOLICS FEEL LEFT OUT OF THE POPE’S EMBRACE by
Laurie Goodstein.
I have stated many times that the Catholic Church needed a “revolutionary”
pope if it was to survive as a viable religion, a religion people would be
drawn to and not repelled by. Currently people are leaving the church because
they no longer feel the church is connected to the people but has become an
arrogant institution focused on self-preservation and nothing else.
Pope Francis is that revolutionary pope and has already
created a positive vibe among people of all religions and not just Catholics
BUT conservative Catholics are pissed at Francis; they want a pope to be like
the popes of the past; unyielding to modernity; not listening to people but
dictating to the people how they should live their lives. To these conservative
Catholics, the Catholic Church is all knowing and all good and should be obeyed
without question…these people obviously do not believe the priestly sex scandal
ever occurred.
I have to point out here that most Catholics applaud Pope
Francis and agree with him when he says that the Church has gotten too obsessed
with the issues of abortion, gay marriage and contraception; issues that are
fundamental to efforts by the American Catholic Church.
Why are conservative Catholics pissed at Francis? I have
already mentioned that Francis is intentionally not speaking out on abortion,
gay marriage and contraception because he does not want the church to be “obsessed”
with those issues anymore.
Conservative Catholics are also pissed off at Francis for
saying that people should follow the good and fight the evil as THEY conceive them;
conservatives have counted on the church to tell them what is good and what is
evil and here Francis is saying that people already know what is good and what
is evil…are you kidding me…now that is revolutionary.
Francis also said that to him the greatest evils right now
are “youth unemployment” and “loneliness of the old”. I happen to know a lot
about loneliness of the old as our family has older members who are pathologically
lonely and depressed; it is a real issue.
Francis also called proselytizing “solemn nonsense” which
basically says trying to convert people to your religion or your belief system
is nonsense.
And what about the pope’s response to gay issues saying “Who
am I to judge”…that is huge and has allowed Catholic legislators who vote for
gay marriage in their states to answer their Catholic critics by saying “Who am
I to judge”…this is just too good to be true!
Some conservative Catholics are resorting to age old
prophesies that predicted a “false church of darkness” especially now that we actually
have two (2) existing popes living side by side…
Yes the conservatives are up in arms thinking that Francis
is trying to destroy THEIR church / religion. These people obviously know
nothing about the history of the church and the history of the many popes that
have come before Francis.
Francis is a breath of fresh air that the church desperately
needs. I see Francis as emulating Jesus of the Gospels as no other pope in modern
times.
Mother Teresa, right before she died, said that prayer was
worthless because there is no God listening to those prayers but her actions in
this world helping the poor, sick and destitute was a very humanistic
dedication of one’s life and Francis, by guiding the church back to serving the
people and not just telling them what to do, follows in Mother Teresa’s
footsteps and the steps and action of Jesus himself.
