On January 28, Pope Francis was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. The accompanying article, with the subheadline “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” indulged secular culture’s favorite theme of contrasting Pope Francis with Pope Benedict. Benedict appears as the “dour academic” with a visage like Freddy Krueger (!), a “staunch traditionalist” whose “disastrous papacy” ended with his resignation in disgrace. Francis, on the contrary, is a suave modern man, the “Bill Clinton” (!!) of the papacy, whom the author finds “surprisingly stylish. . . wearing a double-breasted white overcoat. . . all impeccably tailored.”
Superficial judgments based on appearance and insulting comparisons aside, the author of this article paints Francis as a “confounder of expectations.” Elected as a “safe” choice, Francis is now causing discomfiture among so-called “conservative” Catholics who are scrambling, in the wake of some of his comments on homosexuality and abortion, to explain that he didn’t really mean what secular audience think he means. Francis may have a different style than Benedict, but the substance of their message is the same.
The author responds to these efforts by quoting Fr. Thomas J. Reese, a “left-leaning” priest who argues that “In the Catholic Church, style is substance.” He uses the sacraments as an example: “we are a church of symbols. . . these things really matter.” To a certain degree, Reese is right: changing the symbol that conveys meaning does, indeed, subtly alter that meaning. This is why it matters that we use bread and not Ritz crackers, wine and not grape juice. But on the other hand, Reese’s metaphor is misguided: though the Mass that we celebrate today looks very different than the Mass that was celebrated in the Middle Ages, I doubt any orthodox Catholic theologian would argue that the medieval Mass had a different fundamental meaning than our Mass today. And, indeed, the whole reason why the “style” of our sacraments has changed throughout the centuries is so that their meaning could be more effectively preserved.
Other bloggers around the web have been similarly critical of the Rolling Stone’s take. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi dismissed the article as “superficial journalism.” TheWeek’s Damon Linker points out “9 Ridiculous Claims” in the article, pointing out that secular culture, which never truly understood Church teaching, judges Benedict based on its misguided assumptions about Catholic doctrine and praises Francis for upholding what has been orthodoxy all along. A Patheos blogger expresses dismay that the secular media has not tired of beating up Benedict, but sees hope in the fact that a Pope has been able to intrigue and touch secular culture in such a widespread way. The question for Catholics, he says, is whether we can utilize Pope Francis’ celebrity to engage the world in a deeper discussion of the Church’s mission and meaning.
On a more lighthearted note, this past month has witnessed Catholics in the Buffalo, N.Y., area organizing “flash mobs” – or “Mass mobs” – to fill pews and raise money at historic parishes where attendance has been low. Using social media to spread the word, “Mass mobbers” arrange to attend Mass as a group at a parish they’ve selected by online vote. It’s a win-win situation for everyone: participants get to experience the beauty, history, and architecture of these parishes, and the parishes themselves receive an influx of visitors and donations. At a time when so many Catholic parishes and schools are being shuttered as demographics shift and church attendance declines, it’s important for American Catholics to remember where we’ve come from, so that we can perhaps be more attentive to where we’re going.
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"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." Mother Teresa
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Prep and packaging for the day will be held on Friday night, February 7th at 7:00 pm in the parish center. Help and/or donations is a wonderful way to put our faith in action! For more information, see the calendar to the right, or email Jennifer Hermanski at jennifer.hermanski [at] gmail.com. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
The Boston Sock Exchange is currently in need of winter clothing, especially winter coats, SOCKS, long sleeved-shirts, sweatshirts, coats, hats, gloves, and scarves. We also need rain gear: ponchos and umbrellas. Thank you!
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