A Reflection on Pope Francis's Latest Interview

I felt compelled to share some thoughts on Pope Francis's latest interview that has made waves in the past 48 hours. (If you haven't heard about the interview, you can read much of his responses as summarized by the New York Times here, or you can read the full interview from the Jesuit magazine America here. Warning: the full thing is 13 pages long. I read the summary and skimmed the full thing.)

Quick side note: I've found much of the media's response to Pope Francis very amusing. He hasn't said anything that is radically divergent from Catholic teaching and yet the response to what he says could be summarized in a headline worthy of the Onion: "Pope Gives Honest Answer to Question; World Gasps in Shock".

Anyway, the statements from his latest interview that seem to have generated the most conversation are that the church shouldn't be "obsessed" with "abortion, gay marriage, and contraception" and that the pope insists he's "never been a right-winger." Some liberals seem to take this as a symbol that the Roman Catholic Church is taking a hard turn to the left, while many conservatives seem to be slack-jawed or withholding comment.

As usual, short snippets here taken out of context make great headlines, but not good journalism. First let's understand what Pope Francis is not saying. He is not saying he supports gay marriage, abortion and contraception rights, or women's ordination. In fact, he has said repeatedly he stands by the church's current teaching on these topics. Even in this interview he says, "The teaching of the church is clear...and I am a son of the church." His "right-winger" comment is also more nuanced that it appears. He makes the comment as a way of explaining how his original "authoritarian" style of leadership lead some to believe he was "ultraconservative," but "I was never a right-winger."

So what is Pope Francis saying? In spite of the froth his comments have generated and in spite of the fact that I disagree with some of his Roman Catholic positions, I believe his comments are noteworthy, daring, and important for people of any belief system to listen to.

What Francis (can I call you Francis?) has said is that there are many teachings of the church and that all teachings are not created equal. As such, some teachings deserve more attention than others and some lesser teachings need to be understood in context of bigger ones. For instance, abortion and contraception are opposed by the Roman church because life is seen as a sacred gift of God that must be treated with absolute respect and only God has the right to declare when life can begin or end. Therefore the Roman church opposes abortion and contraception...and murder and powers that rob people of food or livelihood or dignity, etc. It's all from the same core teaching on sanctity of life, but all that ever seems to be communicated is "contraception is evil." I don't see contraception as an evil, but having a conversation about what it means in practice to promote the sanctity of life is a much more interesting -- and important -- conversation than the yes-it-is-no-it's-not type.

This is where I think Francis's comments are helpful to all of us. In a world where we often get caught up in disagreements that try to paint things in simple black or white and where every belief is a hill worth dying on (I'm looking at you, members of the House and Senate), he begs us all to consider: How much time do we spend discussing the big things, our core beliefs, rather than nitpicking the details? Do we even know what our most important beliefs are? I've seen many conversations in many institutions get sidetracked by debating secondary issues that end up hurting the larger mission.

Once again, Pope Francis has not said anything radical, and yet, by speaking honestly and pragmatically, he has made us think about our own belief systems and the faith of others. That is the goal of any spiritual leader.

“The role we play is so important; we are the voices of the underground.” -Ian Axel, "This is the New Year"

Good News or No News?

Note: This post was originally written for my church's newsletter. 

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” -Galatians 3:28

As I sit to write this column, the church-wide assembly of our national church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has elected a new presiding bishop: Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. Bishop Eaton has the distinction of being the first woman presiding bishop for the ELCA (or any of the denominations that merged into the ELCA).  Roughly two months ago, the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA elected Rev. R. Guy Erwin to be their local bishop, making him the first openly gay and first Native American bishop in the ELCA. 

Much has been made of both of these “firsts” in the media, but what strikes me is that the “history making” aspects of both elections were only side notes to those who voted and were elected. After all, neither was elected because of their “minority” status, but because they are qualified and wise spiritual leaders who speak eloquently and passionately about God’s church. As one person said simply of Bishop Erwin’s election, “He was the best candidate.” 

On one hand, these elections should not be news because of course there are qualified candidates for this ministry who happen to be women or LGBT just as some happen to be straight, white men. On the other hand, they show that we as the church are still struggling to live out Paul’s words in Galatians above that it is Christ’s claim to us that matters more than our claim to a gender, ethnic, or other identity. We are Christians first and foremost. 

This is not a new struggle. In Paul’s day, there were heated arguments about whether uncircumcised Greeks could be Christian (Galatians 2), whether wealthy socialites were more Christian than slaves (1 Corinthians 11-13), and even whether a Christian who sins could still be part of the church (1 John 2). Given the chance, humans will always look for ways to create hierarchy, while God continues to practice radical welcome and grace.

As the church and the world continues to struggle with our sinful tendency to divide and focus on differences, the fact that our congregation has chosen to declare that we are welcoming to all people is a powerful witness. We should be proud of the fact that we have chosen to take a stand for inclusion. We feel convicted by the Spirit to say that being a diverse church strengthens our faith as we all learn and grow together.

Until the day where these elections are not newsworthy, we should be proud to say, “Yes, my church elects woman bishops and gay bishops, because we believe that God calls all people to new life and God uses every person God calls to do God’s work -- even me and you.”

“We are the beautiful letdown, the painfully uncool; the church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools.” -Switchfoot, “The Beautiful Letdown”