Ross Douthat, writing in a recent NY Times editorial, said that the story of religion in the West for the last 40+ years has been one in which traditional groups show resiliency while liberal groups tend to atrophy.
“Of late, this process of polarization has carried an air of inevitability. You can hew to a traditional faith in late modernity, it has seemed, only to the extent that you separate yourself from the American and Western mainstream. There is no middle ground, no center that holds for long, and the attempt to find one quickly leads to accommodation, drift and dissolution,” he observed.
And this is where he believes Pope Francis is seeking to make a difference. Specifically, Douthat believes that Francis has an “obvious desire to reject these alternatives” which he views as “self-segregation” (on the part of the traditionalists, aka, triumphalists) or ultimate “surrender” to the popular culture and a loss of faith.
He credits John Allen Jr. for calling Francis a “pope for the Catholic middle,” positing that he is “positioned somewhere between the church’s rigorists and the progressives who pine to Episcopalianize the faith.”
“Francis,” Douthat observes, “seems to be determined to recreate, or regain, the kind of center that has failed to hold in every major Western faith.”
Perhaps Douthat is correct, but if so, is this desire to make nice with “the man in the middle” truly laudable?
Our Blessed Lord seemed rather clearly to say, to Hell with the middle!
“Being that you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth … One is either with me or against me.”
Douthat ultimately proposes, “The question is whether that attention [to the middle] will translate into real interest in the pope’s underlying religious message or whether the culture will simply claim him for its own.”
Clearly, Douthat doesn’t quite grasp the real question; at least as it is being asked by traditional Catholics, and that is precisely this: What exactly is Pope Francis’ “religious message?”
Consider that this is a pope who, in the course of allegedly engaging this “middle,” has:
– Deliberately withheld the Sign of the Cross and refrained from invoking the Blessed Trinity in the presence of a mixed audience of Catholics and non-believers “out of respect for the consciences of all.”
– Publicly proclaimed that religious diversity, consisting of those who worship false gods or worship God falsely, is a “gift.”
– Expressed on more than one occasion an utter distaste for calling on non-Catholics to convert to the one true faith.
– Has suggested that if individuals would only follow “the good” and combat “the bad,” according to their own idea of which is which, this alone will lead to a better world.
I could go on, but presumably you get the point. Based on these and other incidents, one is hard pressed not to wonder if the pope’s “religious message,” much of which appears blatantly humanistic, is even primarily Catholic.
My conservative Catholic friends, people I respect, are content to assume that the Holy Father is carrying out a well-considered plan of evangelization, and that his admittedly troubling words and deeds must be humbly accepted and placed within the context of the mission to capture this middle ground, the same of which Our Savior spoke so harshly.
For my part, that sounds an awful lot like “ends justifying means,” as if doctrinally confusing and misleading statements today are OK since they will somehow magically lead to converts tomorrow.
At this point, I have yet to hear even one compelling argument in favor of overlooking the dangers associated with the pope’s now officially acknowledged lack of concern for precision in the way he speaks, and so I will not.
Hi Louie. Thank you for leading the charge. I am praying that the pope will “see the light” like St. Paul and get knocked off his horse. I too have been talking with good faithful Catholics who say it is too early. They say that so far it has only been talk and no harmful action. Wrong! By talking the pope is teaching. He is feeding the flock. And some of what he has been giving the flock to eat is poisonous. I can just imagine the reaction of most faithful Catholics if these teachings were coming from anyone else but the pope. On October 13 he will consecrate the world to Our Lady of Fatima. Remember that she asked us to pray for the Holy Father. If only she could grant him a vision of Hell like she showed to Blessed Jacinta and Francisco and to Sister Lucia.
The Holy Spirit is in control. If evil is allowed to exist and even influence, it is only because God has allowed it, sometimes for reasons we cannot understand. If this pope is truly in error by the way is speaking and what he is saying, then so too it is only because God allows it. Why does he allow it? Who knows. Perhaps this is what we deserve. Is this attitude overlooking the dangers? No. Is it a compelling argument? Probably not. But I believe it to be the truth. And as long as we are Catholics, we have the pope. Like it or not, right now it is Francis. The bottom line is that time will tell the story of this man and his mission. If only Our Lady could grant each and every one of us that vision of hell, so we could understand just how profoundly flawed each and everyone of us are. I don’t believe for one minute that lukewarm, watered down theology will win anyone over or lead to true conversion. But I also acknowledge that I do not have all the answers, so I put my trust in Jesus. The Church is changing people. It will get worse before it gets better, if it ever does. Jesus is coming and we all must face death. Pope Francis will face his judgment and we will face ours. Do what God has commanded of you. Go fish.
Thank you for your words, it is encouraging to hear the truth.
The Catholic middle does exist. It is the Continuity with two millennia of the Magisterium of the Church, the Ten Commandments, the seven sacraments, the reality of sin, venial and mortal, of earthly death, judgement, of the hope of heaven, and of the danger of hell. That is the real Church that Christ instituted for the salvation of mankind. Certainly, in the last forty post- Vatican II years, it has been silenced by liberal/Modernist wave of secularisation of both the clergy and laity, by enemies from within, hence the small surviving core of orthodox Catholics, and the much larger body of heterodoxy plus those who have simply walked away.
The Pope is, in his admittedly rather “gaucho” manner, trying to reclaim these latter groups, and rightly so. But he is new and has a lot to learn. He is using a change of “tone” and it remains to be seen what effect that will have. There is always tension between the pastoral and the doctrinal. What he cannot do is change Catholic teaching. For instance sex outside of a valid marriage between a man and a woman, hetero or homo sexual is always gravely wrong, objectively, a mortal sin, and cannot be permitted by any priest in the Church regardless of his rank.
It is true that the Pope has said some silly things such as you mention, saying that religious diversity is a “gift” and so on. But he has also declared that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the standard by which any doubts or uncertainties are to be resolved and that really says it all!
The world doesn’t seem at all confused about the recent interviews and all the unpopelikeness; they feel comfortable, at home with it.
‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’
I for one am not amused, inspired, edified etc. with Bergoglio’s antics…the bloggers from Argentine say that he has been doing this for more than 20 years, so it is very naive to presume good will on his part…
he seems to be a zelot for disbelief, a sort of iconoclastic Bahai member…
Not a catholic….frankly, the Cardinals need to call him on the carpet…you cannot simply claim that you were misquoted or don’t have a knack for interviews; you need to repudiate the errors promulgated in your name and cited as from your mouth, otherwise you must be presumed to hold them, and be pertinacious in that…
“Go fish.”
Dear Mr. David. I consider that an apt response only if the question is; “Do you have any nines?”
If what the Pope is saying is true, then I need to burn my Baltimore Cathecism, burn any books I have in my house by Mother Angelica, and disregard the teachings of Fr. Grochel and the nuns who taught me in grammer school over 50 years ago.