It amazes me when people are SURE FIRE about something about
which they have no real means to know if it is true or not. It amazes me even more when somebody points out
to ME that I am adamant about something about which I have no real means to
know if it is true or not. We act on our
prejudices and assumptions often unawares.
For example, a Grand Jury decided recently in a
controversial police shooting that the officer was acting correctly. A huge swath of people including much of my
news sources have jumped on the band wagon condemning the police officer,
police departments, and the justice system none of whom were there, attended
the trial, or knew the people involved.
So sure, where there is smoke there is fire, but how can they be so sure
in direct condemnation?
Today people have absolute ideas about the pope, what he
said, what he meant, what he did, what his intentions are, and these are largely
gleaned from blurbs from newspaper articles that are more interested in
stirring up brouhaha than giving a fair, balanced, and full reports. It doesn’t help the matter that our diocesan
newspaper does little to counterman this.
Recently, Catholics in Akron were given two deeper glimpses
into what is going on with our pope. The
first was Fr. Haydu, International Director of the Friends of the Vatican
Museums, who said the reason many practicing Catholics are bristling at some of
the things that come from the lips of our pontiff (assuming that it is being
reported correctly) are missing out on the idea that they are not his
audience. We are the 99 sheep that he is
allowing priests, bishops, and cardinals to tend and he is going after the 1
lost sheep. That is his target
audience. And we can be like the
prodigal son’s brother upset with the dad not giving him the fatted calf.
The second opportunity was Mr. John Allen, senior correspondent
to the Vatican for CNN. He cautioned us
about the media’s focus on a rift between the pope and the American
bishops. This will be exaggerated as we
prepare to greet him in Philadelphia next year.
While there are certainly some bishops that do not agree with Pope
Francis, there have been contingencies of bishops that did not like Benedict or
John Paul II or any pope in history.
Today it is being highlighted and being made to seem larger or more
important than it is.
Another caution he offered was buying into the “Benedict
bad, Francis good” mentality. Many of
the things Pope Francis is (rightly) getting great credit for was also done by
Benedict (though nobody knows of it) or are initiatives begun by Benedict and
being implemented by Francis.
These are just two examples (and not very flushed out owing
to the limited space of a post in this blog) but they point to something about
which we need to remember: Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because it is in writing does not mean
that it is true. If something sounds
overly controversial to you, we have means to look into it more deeply. John Allen’s articles are always considered
excellently done. You may find it
HERE. Or you may check out the Vatican
websites themselves as well as other reputable Catholic sites.
We can be much more in the know.
2 comments:
NPR is not a source I normally look to for my Catholic news, but I found a story on their website that seems to capture Pope Francis about as well as could be done:
"On all the core Catholic teachings, he is absolutely straight-down-the-line orthodox Catholic. But he is also an evangelizer and a missionary....What's missing from the picture, he says, is the merciful face of Christ. The church that heals the wounds, that raises people up, that nurtures them, that forgives them....What he's actually saying is people need to experience that before they are ready to accept the rest of it. So what is conversion? Conversion is when somebody first experiences the love and mercy and forgiveness of God, and then, having assimilated that, then, as it were, chooses the Christian life, chooses the moral life, and so on. But you can't go to the second without the first."
This is from an interview with Austin Ivereigh about his new book on Pope Francis. Ivereigh is the founder of Catholic Voices, an extraordinary project that trains lay people and clergy alike to speak with accuracy and Christian love about the Faith in the public square, particularly with the media. They have a US presence that I hope gains prominence in the near future. U.S.
Catholic Voices Chaplain Roger Landry did a great analysis of the synod. I think I may have just found a new favorite Catholic news commentary.
Whoops, I failed to include a link to US Catholic Voices Chaplain Roger Landry's great analysis of the synod.
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