Evangelizing Sweetly:

The Method of Pope Francis

Check out what Sister Mary Ann Walsh has to say about Pope Francis' great appeal to people. This article appeared on the HuffPost Religion site:

 

Pope Francis' Late Night Appeal

 

Sister Mary Ann has got it exactly right. She has analyzed how Pope Francis is appealing to people and helping to evangelize. 

 

As a person who is passionately against proselytizing, I find Pope Francis' method of demonstrating and discussing Catholicism highly attractive—so much so that if he were a priest in my neighborhood, I'd end up going to Church just to hear what he had to say! It might not make me a completely devout Catholic—because I still have those progressive views that are so important to my soul—but I would be exposed to—and understand better—a great deal of valuable Catholic thought and feeling.

 

Much of what the Pope is saying is very illuminating and inspiring. His kind of evangelizing is gentle and does not violate anybody's soul. It simply shows what is suggested and invites people to think and feel about it. This is exactly the way I believe all religious leaders should act and speak.

 

Pope Francis is inclusive. He demonstrates kindness and understanding. Instead of fire and brimstone, he offers Heaven. Instead of hatred, he illustrates love. This, after all, is really what Jesus Christ was all about. It's true that He had anger when He chased the money changers out of the temple, but, for the most part, he offered sweetness and healing along with his theological teaching. The Pope is doing the same thing.

 

I still have great problems with some parts of Catholic theology regarding gays and women, but I have never felt so close to Catholicism as I do now, ever since Pope Francis was elected. I actually feel that I now have Catholicism as part of my eclectic religion. I would look to this pope as a spiritual guide in many ways. He comes to my mind in many situations.

 

I never planned to blog about a pope. That was not even anywhere in my thoughts—ever! Yet, ever since I saw that man looking at the crowd in St. Peter's Square for the first time after his election, I knew that something magnificent had occurred. Something different and very unique had come to the Catholic Church. So, now, here I am blogging about Pope Francis. Here I am thinking about Catholic ways of being. Here I am, just like Sister Mary Ann notes.

 

Am I being evangelized? Maybe. But I don't mind at all. I am enjoying it.

No Success Like Failure: 

Pope Francis' Battle with Temptation

Pope Francis shares so much of his internal life with us. This is unlike any other pope I have known about. He tells us about his own foibles and weaknesses and uses himself as an example of how to overcome spiritual obstacles. This is in the tradition he has already established of not vainglorying himself or his position. Although, presumably, he is at the very pinnacle of success for the career path he chose as a servant of the Church, he tells us about his own reaction when he faced serious temptation. An article published today by the Catholic News Agency described what the Pope told an audience about a dark moment in his life.

Visit: Dark moment reminded Pope to seek God's will above success

He was tempted to do something flashy and outstanding, and very, very scary. According to the account Pope Francis gave, the Devil told him:

Do everything with speed, preform a miracle, something that everyone can see. Let’s go to the temple and skydive without a parachute, so everyone will see the miracle and redemption will come to pass.

That would actually have been suicide, and we would not have our Pope today, if he had succumbed to this crazy notion. Fortunately, he realized that the idea was not a calling from G-d but rather the temptation of the Devil, urging the future Pope to take a shortcut to speedy success. 

Now that is one Hell of a revelation—literally—that a person of G-d felt this way—a future Pope no less! One thinks of such people as being so sure and so confident and so very serene. Their very auras attract us, because we are seeking great mastery of life. 

Pope Francis reminds us that this is truly an illusion. He explains that Jesus' disciples wanted to get everything polished and organized quickly in an effort to consolidate their power and success. That would have been very temporary. It was not the way Jesus was bound to go. His path was the Way of the Cross—to ensure real and lasting success.

Pope Francis said that he had asked a nun to pray for him because of the temptation he had been grappling with. The 80-year-old woman of G-d was in the confessional, and he asked her:  "Sister, as penance, pray for me, because I need a grace. O.K? If you ask the Lord for this grace on my behalf, I am sure to receive it." As he recalled, "she stopped for a moment, as if in prayer, and said: ‘Of course the Lord will grant you this grace, but do not be deceived: in His own divine manner.'"

This benefited the future Pope. He was well-comforted: "This did me a lot of good," he said, and explained that "this is the divine way to the very end. The divine way involves the Cross—not out of masochism—no, no! Out of love. For love to the very end.”

This has got to be the best—the absolute best—explanation of the Catholic centuries'-old obsession with suffering that I have ever heard. It provides the missing context. All I ever heard was: "Suffer, suffer, suffer. Be a martyr." And for what? It seemed a useless and futile exercise to me. It didn't seem mentally healthy.

But now it's clear what this is all about. We will face obstacles in life, and those obstacles can only be overcome by great effort. That effort will duly involve suffering and sacrifice. G-d, hears our prayers but chooses to answer them in a mysterious fashion that may not always be what we envision. Yet, if we are patient, we will see the glorious reasoning behind the strange answers and demands that we receive. What we really need to pray for is not so much victory as the ability not just to endure but to face problems and work to resolve them. That, in and of itself will be the victory. Anything else, if G-d wills it, will be the icing on the proverbial cake.


As the Pope explained, when we focus so much on victory or success and avoid any kind of suffering, we become "half-way Christians." Like the disciples, we lay out plans for triumph but don't factor in all the myriad variables involved in such plans. We don't stop to think what G-d wants. We don't ask if our schemes will better humanity.
 
This attitude of "trumphalism" impedes spirituality. It impedes the Church. It's efficient but lacks the illumination and understanding of the martyrs upon which the religion was founded.
 
I had noted, in my own life, times when I sufferered through things that seemed totally strange and unfair, only to emerge stronger and better because of these events. Mockery and discrimination made me more empathetic to other people who were enduring these things. I became more passionate about being inclusive and multicultural. I cared more! An injury I sustained inspired great creativity in my husband and brought me closer to one of my sisters. My own creativity blossomed. Oh yes, I knew G-d is watching and G-d lets certain things happen for a reason. And, sooner or later, that reason is revealed.

True to what Pope Francis said about people who are non-Catholics having spirituality, Bob Dylan had written so many years ago in a song: "There's no success like failure/and failure's no success at all."

Thanks to Pope Francis, I understand more fully just what those beautiful lyrics mean. And, more thanks to Pope Francis, I can worry less about my failures because I know I am in G-d's hands, and things are going according to G-d's plan. In not succeeding all the time, I am doing G-d's Will. That doesn't mean that I should give up and be a lazy lump. It just means that I should go in the direction where G-d's love leads me rather than chasing after any kind of victory that the Devil might offer me.

Oh this Pope is really inspiring us. He is giving us so much knowledge and understanding about G-d. He truly is acting as a pontiff, bridging that gap between us and what is Devine.

Addendum

Visit:

Pope Francis sparks controversy for suggesting atheists' can go to heaven

for information on Pope Francis' comments on original sin.

G-d is Not a Country Club

Big controversy going on. Pope Francis says that good deeds can ensure salvation even for atheists, and then the Vatican rushes to do damage control, because this breaks with the original doctrine of "no salvation outside the Catholic Church."

Visit this Huffington Post article by Sara Nelson:
Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed By Jesus As Well As Catholics, Pope Francis Says

and then see this update:

Vatican Confirms Atheists Still Going To Hell, Despite Pope Francis Remarks 

 

Pope Francis described how some of Jesus' disciples were upset to see a nonbeliever doing good:

They complain: "If he is not one of us, he cannot do good. If he is not of our party, he cannot do good." And Jesus corrects them: "Do not hinder him," he says. "Let him do good."

Then the Pope said: 

"This was wrong. . . .Jesus broadens the horizon. . . .The root of this possibility of doing good—that we all have—is in creation."

Ms. Nelson then reports that the Pope went even further to be absolutely clear in a simulated "conversation" between himself and a questioner:

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: Do good and do not do evil. All of us."

"But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good."

"Yes, he can. . . .The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!" 

"Father, the atheists?" 

"Even the atheists. Everyone!  We must meet one another doing good."

"But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!" 

"But do good: We will meet one another there.”

Now this is revolutionary stuff! I never heard a priest say anything like this, let alone a Pope. Poor guy. Every time he tries to extend G-d's mercy and goodness to the world, somebody comes in and tries to put a cork in Pope Francis' mouth. It also happened to him when he was willing to let Argentina's gay marriage law go unchallenged outside the Church.

I cannot help but chuckle too. The Vatican claims that there is such a phenomenon as papal infallibility on matters of doctrine (not that I ever believed that ANY human being can have that—not even a Pope!). Now the Vatican is trying to say that the Pope made a mistake. Whoops—they can't have it both ways. Either the Pope is infallible; hence, there is a change in doctrine OR the Pope is fallible and misspoke. Well, that's a problem that comes up according to their rule book. It's very different in mine.

Pope Francis is a true Person of G-d in my rulebook. He does not presume to wear a cloak of infallibility. He does not presume to judge as G-d would judge. The Pope simply preaches what he was taught as the doctrine and offers it to everyone. He looks for the good in all people, because he truly believes that goodness saves and evil damns. He knows that not everybody can or will necessarily follow the Way of Christ in a literal and doctrinal fashion. Yet, the expression of who and what Jesus was does emerge in such people. 

Why shouldn't g-dly people welcome goodness wherever it is discovered? Is it not G-d's Will that goodness be spread as far and wide as possible? Isn't it our G-d given duty to do that spreading? Every act of good creates more good in the world. We keep paying it forward. And, in doing so, we make our souls cleaner and more whole. We help to heal other souls too.

I've never believed that salvation only was given to people who professed a certain kind of creed. I've seen too much goodness everywhere, in all sorts of people, to imagine that they would burn in Hell just because they didn't all go to one Church. And I've seen too much evil everywhere so many times—even inside the the Church—to ever believe that Church could keep evil out of its confines.

It's never really a matter of cosmology, in my view. It's a matter of intent and action based on that intent. G-d knows what is in our hearts. G-d is everywhere and is All Knowing and All Seeing. I believe that I have said before that every act of good, whether consciously or not, is a prayer. Even if Heaven for atheists simply represents a moral life that contributed to humanity and was well-lived, that is a kind of salvation. 

I believe that we are all part of a G-dhead in some way or another. We are all connected. Our souls are all part of it. It is within us as well as all around us. Each of us perceives it differently. This is as it was meant to be, because we are all adding to the wisdom of the collective human soul.

It is enjoyable to meet with people who believe as I do. Yet, I learn so very, very much from people who believe differently. Each time I encounter someone with different ideas and beliefs than my own, I learn something. It could be a new way of reaching G-d or doing good. It could be about another kind of evil, most especially intolerance. Whatever it is—it is KNOWLEDGE. Apple and snake be damned, I am not Eve, and I am allowed to seek knowledge. And the Jesuits do that so, so how bad can that be?

Pope Francis even said there was no original sin. I agree with him. We carry karma from past lives (which I believe in), and we have to work out that karma, but we are not damned from a sin committed by our ancestors.

The Pope is going to need G-d next to him, because the conflict between him and the Vatican is really starting to boil over. We could see a revolution within the Church. He once told the College of Cardinals that they might come to regret their choice of him as Pope. They might, because he loves the whole world, not just the Catholic Church.

G-d is not an exclusive country club. We cannot exclude members because they are different from ourselves. Who are WE to decide? Like Pope Francis, I prefer to leave that up to G-d. And G-d Bless Pope Francis!

What the Devil is Going On Here?

 

Mea culpa, mea culpa. While my faithful readers have been reading along, I've been derelict in writing more. I was tied up with my day job, for one thing. And I was disappointed and disgusted with Pope Francis' reaction to the liberal nuns. But this Pope still has a lot of good things to teach us—and we need all the help we can get these days.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: It feels like Armageddon is here! One simply cannot turn on the news without seeing images of new disasters every single day. If someplace is not burning up, it's flooding. If it's not flooding, it's being swallowed up in a sinkhole or an earthquake. And, if that isn't happening, then, well, tornadoes are attacking and ripping away homes and lives with total abandon. Oh yes, indeed, the Devil is having a great time these days. And that's because Mother Nature is very angry at the human race for abusing the Earth. So, she's letting the Devil wreak havoc.

Is it really so surprising that the Pope of the Catholic Church would be thinking a lot about Satan? Is it really so surprising that he would pray over people who are suffering? Those things were the concern of Jesus Christ, so why shouldn't His emissary be equally concerned? Especially these days!

Did Pope Francis really exorcise demons out of a man? Here's a report by Nicole Winfield, of the Associated Press: 

Check out: Pope and the Devil: Francis' Fascination with Satan Leads to Suspicion He Performed Exorcism

She reports the story of a man who went limp after Pope Francis placed his hands on the man's head and said a prayer. The man's behavior was very much like that which is seen in an exorcism. Indeed, Ms. Winfield also cites an expert who says that exorcisms do not always have to conform to the prescribed rites. In addition, Ms. Winfield quotes Pope Francis as saying in his first homily as Pope back in March, that "he who doesn't pray to the Lord prays to the devil." Well, I'd say that also applies to women.

 
Pope Francis has mentioned the Devil at other times. When talking about the need for dialogue among peoples, he said: "With the prince of this world you can't have dialogue: Let this be clear!" he warned. After reading Milton's Paradise Lost, I've always viewed the Earth as the Devil's playground.


Now, here's what I think: Pope Francis may not have prayed over the man with any specific intention to cast out any demons, but, perhaps the demons in the man weren't too happy to be blessed by a Pope, so they left the man.

I would have to say that I do believe that people can be possessed by demons. It's not just the terrorists and the serial killers. It's also people who are inhumane in their actions and thoughts. Maybe they don't thrash about and vomit green pea soup, but their ideas are really demonic. Among those are people who vote to reduce aid to the poor, people who abuse their workers, and people who blame victims for the disasters that befall them. You know these people. They tell you that everything is your own responsibility, whether or not it works out for you. They blame you for your bad karma.

Now the Law of Karma is such that, yes, indeed people with bad karma will have things happen to them. However—and this is a big HOWEVER—this does not, not, not, absolutely, not mean that we are their appointed judges. Whatever punishment that was coming to such people has already happened. It is not our job to make that punishment worse. Rather, instead, it is our appointed task to show mercy and forgiveness, in the form of aid to help such people.

This is what Pope Francis teaches us when he prays for the victims of disasters or over individuals who may or may not have demons in them. He offers healing to everyone alike—both sinners and saints.

In this time of so many disasters and so much confusion, mercy and healing are needed more than ever. Armageddon is here. Souls are being taken left and right everywhere. We are left here to battle with Satan, and the best way to win that battle is to refute any temptation to be cruel and selfish. Instead, let us pray and let us extend mercy to people who have paid their karmic debts, instead of trying to judge and blame them.

That, indeed, will keep any demons away so we can win this final battle with Evil.

The Seventh Day Controversy

"And on the seventh day He rested...."

This quote from the Bible is controversial. Some people say that G-d wouldn't rest because He (well they say "He") wouldn't get tired and so, He would have no reason to rest. However, Pope Francis tell us that leisure is part of G-d's plan and that it is G-dly to rest. 

Pope Francis Has a Few Words in Support of Leisure

I would say that in fact it is G-dly to rest and have recreation. If you break up that word you get re-creation. In my view G-d valued creativity and wanted to show that rest and restoration would be part of what we needed to be vital, living beings. And, when one is at leisure, there can be a wonderful, serendipitous opportunity to appreciate G-d's gifts even more. For example, this past Saturday, I took some time to photograph some of the beautiful flowers in my neighborhood. I was awestricken by the beauty of G-d's creation. It didn't matter to me that this creation had come about through the manipulations of human beings. It still had its root in G-d's grace.

  

Devils in the Details

Part I: Slave Labor and Investment Gambling

OK, we've talked a lot about the presence of Evil and the necessity for Good. How does that translate into action? What can we learn from Pope Francis? The next few columns will look at some of the Devils in the Details, to help us understand how evil manifests in the world.

Here's one article, by Agence France Presse, reporting in The Huffington Post, that really put me on fire: 

Pope Francis Condemns "Slave Labor" in Bangladesh: "Goes Against God."

This was Pope Francis speaking in response to a factory collapse that left more than 400 people dead in Bangladesh. The Pope noticed a headline that indicated that the workers were living on 38 euros [approximately $50.19 in U.S. dollars] per month. . . .That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labor." Citing humanity's ability "to create, to work, to have dignity," as G-d's creation, Pope Francis wondered "how many brothers and sisters find themselves in this situation." He then stated:

Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God! . . . .There are many people who want to work but cannot. When a society is organized in a way that not everyone is given the chance to work, that society is not just.

To that I add a resounding AMEN that I hope will be heard around the entire world. There is nothing here that I have any reservations about. There is absolutely no disagreement between my ideals and Pope Francis' statement.

This has always been an area where the progressive movement and the Catholic Church are perfectly aligned. We are allies in the struggle for workers' rights. It doesn't matter what one's religion or ideology may be. The goal is what matters.

I have always felt that abuse of workers was a sin. That is one of the things that attracted me to the progressive movement. It is very, very hard to survive on small wages and be able to pay bills. We all need to eat and have shelter, clothing, cleanliness, and health.

How many of these needs are actually met? We get it preached at us all the time about how we are supposed to be creative, independent, willing to work, and out there sweating bullets to earn a living. When something happens, and we cannot do so, we are looked upon with the same disdain as any poor person in a Charles Dickens novel. We are thought of as lazy, irresponsible, and wanting handouts. Yet, we are only looking for a hand up—not a handout!

Oh I work, but trying to pay for everything is quite another story. The healthcare situation alone in the United States is a scandal, but don't get me started on THAT today—or this column will take forever to read! Suffice to say, it has bankrupted many people. Working people. People who should not be blamed for bad luck, for following the best advice that was available to them during their lives.

Instead let's talk about some economics. There are so many discussions about "investing." That word grates on my nerves as much as the word "opportunity" does. Opportunity is meaningless to an older person or any person with any kind of disability. All it means is that the bar will always be much too high to ever be able to "take advantage" of opportunity. Opportunity is simply a gamble that only allows selected people to win. The rest of us must lose.

Given that, how are we supposed to even think about investing?

We don't have two nickles to rub together. What can we actually put aside to invest? What are we going to invest in? And why would we want to put the odd dollar that might come our way into something that is essentially a gamble? That's what investing is. There is always a winner and a loser. And anybody who has not been taught how to play the game will always be on the losing side of it. I got a B in college economics, and there was nothing in that course about credit, investing strategies, or budgeting. There was no preparation for that sort of thing at all. Why should I bother to learn a game that might make me win at the expense of other people?

Pope Frances mentions something about looking at corporate balance sheets. He knows that those sheets only reflect numbers that are supposed to benefit investors. They do not reflect the work that was put into making those numbers possible. 

Think about it. A company is on the stock market. That company wants to have its shares be worth a lot to attract investors. How does the company do that? By cutting costs everywhere. Cutting production costs so that products are shoddy. Cutting labor costs, including everything from worker safety to working conditions, from salaries to benefits. . . . Ultimately, a company will do everything that it can possibly get away with, so that its balance sheets will be attractive to investors.

Doesn't that say something about the stock market and what it does to workers? Doesn't that say something about what it does to consumers? All the stock market cares about is numbers—not people.

Aren't we supposed to be enlightened since the days of the Victorian era when we blamed the poor for their deplorable condition? How can we say that we believe in a merciful and beautiful G-d and then allow slave labor? Pope Francis is 100% right. We can't. It would be total hypocrisy.

While Bangladesh is the most extreme example of slave labor, it goes on in many places. There were workers in a plant in Asia who committed suicide because their working conditions were intolerable. South America uses maquiladoras earning a few cents a day to make clothing. The good old U.S. of A. uses undocumented immigrants to do dirty work. And then, on top of that, these immigrants are condemned for being "illegal." If there was no market for them, they wouldn't be coming here, would they? Somebody is paying them and the little they are getting is worth more than what they can get in Mexico. So we exploit them and then we punish them too. 

This slave labor is a direct result of pressures from investors on the companies to make their balance sheets attractive. That's the connection. Until we stop asking people who do not work for a company to invest in it, we are not going to improve conditions for workers, nor are we going to improve our products. That investment mentality needs to be changed from a win–lose strategy to a win–win strategy. You might be scratching your head and asking, "I'm not a company owner, so what can I do?"

I'm not a company owner, but here are a few of the things that I do:

• If I know a product is made under bad labor conditions, and I have an option to choose a different product, I choose the other product.
• In my husband's 401k, we invested only in bonds. We avoided the stock market, because we don't want to participate in it. True maybe we won't make as much, but at least we can look in the mirror in the morning and not want to vomit.
• In every single interaction with workers, I try to show respect. I try to praise them for a service well-performed. If a person goes the extra mile, I try to tell the boss about it. One never knows, maybe that person would get a nice raise.
• I speak truth to power as best I can. While maintaining respect, I try to let the powers that be what the results of their decisions are. This includes bosses, government officials, etc.

If anybody has more ideas, share them in the comments section of the blog, please. . . . 
 
I think the world should listen to the Pope. On this issue Pope Francis is not backward in any way, shape, or form. He is actually ahead of everybody here.