Advice for a New Pope

Getting ready to board a flight from Dallas to Detroit last Saturday, I picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal. The most interesting articles I spotted were not about the economy, emerging markets, or the new record highs on the New York Stock Exchange. They were about the selection of a new pope.

Pope Benedict XVI stunned his own Roman Catholic Church and the larger world last month by resigning the papal office. He thus became the first pope to retire from office since 1415. Now the Journal was running six views of “What to Look for in a New Pope.” The writers came at their assignment from a variety of perspectives and with several common themes. Among them were advocacy for the poor, transparency about recent scandals, being a moral-spiritual warrior to a world that seems increasingly immoral and secular, etc.

Among the suggestions I found most insightful were these words from one of the two female writers: “[T]he new pope must bring Catholicism back to basics, not to elaborations on a theme but to the theme itself. The modern Church, at the very highest levels of its thinking, in the writings of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, has become somewhat abstract and cerebral. Such things have their place, but for now, in the ruined world, what’s needed is a reintroduction of Christ to the rising and post-Christian nations alike, always with an eye to meaning, meaning.”

I found Peggy Noonan’s words convicting. They speak not only to Catholics but to Protestants as well. They are, in fact, variations on a theme that Time magazine noted almost exactly a year ago. Commenting on Christian believers who say they no longer have a religious affiliation, the national newsmagazine quoted an ordained Presbyterian: “My sense is that for most they’re not rejecting God. They’re rejecting organized religion as being rigid and dogmatic.”

Too cerebral? Somewhat abstract? Rigid? Dogmatic? Why, how dare anyone say such things!

Yet Jesus said similar things about the religion of his day. Tradition had become more important to the religious leaders than Scripture itself. He allowed that the Temple had been turned into a marketplace and den of thieves. He protested that the religion scholars were debating the meaning of obscure texts while the “weightier matters” of justice, mercy, and faith were being neglected.

To the degree that any of us who stand in the Christian tradition feel defensive about the criticisms we hear of church these days – and please hear the term “church” in its broadest possible connotation – we are likely part of the problem. Whether Catholics about priestly transgressions or Protestants about self-aggrandizing televangelists, whether you are non-denominational or a “none” (i.e., Time’s non-affiliated believer), we could all benefit by listening.

The world isn’t dying for a lack of clarity about difficult theological problems or clerical authority. It needs to encounter its redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Lived faith, radiant hope, and selfless love – these are the qualities of a Christ-filled life that will make it possible for someone to meet him through you. 

Reflections on Malala’s Recovery

              Malala Yousafzai is the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by Taliban gunmen last October. Her offense was that she wanted to go to school. More than that, she had dared to speak and blog for the freedom of girls like her to receive an education in Pakistan. Her father had kept a school he operated in a conventional region of that country open to girls – in defiance of the Taliban.

            Two gunmen stopped the school van in which Malala was riding, forced other students to point her out, and opened fire. She was critically injured by bullets that struck her head and neck. Moved from Pakistan to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London, she has received aggressive treatment over the past three months. Her progress has been remarkable – a miracle, says her father.

            She was discharged from the hospital last week and is in a safe house with her family. While she is much improved, she is hardly recovered from her injuries. There will be surgery soon to replace a shattered portion of her skull. There is more therapy to come. And some damage to her will be permanent.

            For a moment, let your sympathy for Malala and your outrage toward those who would do such a thing to her extend to a broader group. She is one very public and visible case of injustice against women and children. Hers is a most important and extreme instance of the mistreatment millions of people suffer on a daily basis for their entire lives.

            You surely read of the 23-year-old woman who died after being raped, beaten, and otherwise brutalized in India. That widely publicized episode has become the occasion for the world to learn how vulnerable women are in India to lewd confrontations, physical groping, and sexual violation.

            Then last week Operation Sunflower, led by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials, brought about the arrest of 245 persons for child sexual abuse and child pornography. Of those 245, all but 23 were in the United States. As a result of the operation, 44 children were rescued from the adult abusers and pornographers with whom they were living – five under the age of 3 and nine between the ages of 4 and 6.

            The time is long past that you and I can turn away from such evils. Guard your children and grandchildren. Report abuse to the police. Don’t make excuses for pornography or stay silent when others do. The issue here is simple respect for human worth and dignity. Basic human rights. Love for the most vulnerable.

            “If we don’t love the people we can see, how can we claim to love God, whom we cannot see?” (1 John 4:20).