Catholics need to be on guard against allowing the angry rhetoric that comes from a polarized society, especially in an election year, to seep into discussions about the life of the church, Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops.
Thirty-three bishops, auxiliary bishops and retired bishops from California, Nevada and Hawaii met Pope Francis for more than two-and-a-half hours Jan. 27.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said the topics included: youth and young adult ministry, Marian devotion, the clerical sexual abuse crisis, marriage and family life, migration, how to be a good bishop, political divisions within the United States and how some of that divisive rhetoric is seen within the church.
Some bishops “brought up the polarization in society and how this is affecting the church,” he said. One bishop described for the pope “how as a society, you know, we’re more and more divided, and people attack each other.”
Pope Francis said something similar is “sometimes happening in the church when different factions try to find something to attack people on personally, and so the Holy Father spoke about this politicization of pastoral life,” Archbishop Cordileone said.
“We are constantly challenged to get the message across that we’re not a political party and we don’t follow a political platform with the issues,” the archbishop said. “On some issues, one party is more favorable to what we understand is for the common good and, on other issues, another party might be more favorable.”
Pope Francis told the bishops “that in a political system where there are only two parties, there’s more of a tendency to be this way,” the archbishop said. “He wasn’t picking on us because as, he said, it’s the same thing in Argentina, where they have a two-party system, and he sees it happening in his country.”
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles said the issue of migration was among the topics discussed with the pope, who told them “how it’s important for all of us in the church to be open and welcome immigrants.”
The pope, he said, “gave us some ideas on how to continue helping people to understand the reality of immigration,” but also spoke about how increasing polarization on the issue is found not only in the United States but in many parts of the world.
“He insisted to us that it is important to see the need for dialogue between people and to understand that we all are children of God,” Archbishop Gomez told Catholic News Service….
The pastoral care of LGBT Catholics was another topic Pope Francis spoke about, Archbishop Cordileone said. “He spoke about the pastoral care that we have to give” and the need to understand the suffering many of them have endured, including being shunned by their families.
“He made important distinctions between the (sexual) orientation and the question of marriage,” for example saying it was important to ensure gay couples have access to public benefits, but insisting gay couples cannot marry, the archbishop said. “Marriage is unique; marriage, by its nature, is complementarity between man and woman. And he spoke about the danger of the gender ideology and how it denies difference,” the diversity with which God created human beings male and female.
Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu told CNS he took advantage of the pope’s invitation to ask for clarifications about things he has said.
The bishop said he asked the pope to talk more about what he means when he says Catholics must evangelize, but not proselytize.
“We’re closing parishes, we’re merging parishes, and so the problem is that we are not really good as Catholics about evangelization,” he said he told the pope.
“I said, ‘You’ve said many things about evangelization and how it is the essence of the church’s mission, but you have also talked … against proselytizing, and I am a little confused about the distinction,” the bishop explained.
While the pope answered in Italian through a translator, the bishop said: “I have to say I am still a little confused about his distinction. I don’t know if he answered it directly.”
The above comes from a Jan. 27 story in Catholic San Francisco
Did Pope Francis speak about how gay couples must not engage in sexual behavior?
Criticizing proselytism is sometime used as a way to cloak oneself in a certain nobility without having to back it up with anything. Generally understood, it means cornering someone that has no where else to go and coercing them to believe in one’s ideology. That problem is hardly an issue in the American Roman Catholic Church and it is no wonder the bishop was confused. Criticizing the “specter” of Catholic proselytism is sort of like asking the devoted husband and father “why don’t you beat your wife and kids now?”
Pope Francis is concerned about accepting migrants and LBGTQs, while at the same time elevating the Pachamama Amazonian idol to compete with the Virgin Mary, whose veneration is found objectionable by Protestants and Jesuits. Francis is also proposing to remove the Holy Spirit from the Novissimus Ordo Missae and substitute it with “dew” already venerated by amazonians and Freemasons. Our Pope is a steamroller, baby.
Since our Pope only speaks pidgin Italian or Argentine Spanish I will reproduce what he declared about The Mother of God in Spanish at Saint Peter’s Basilica to a group of USA Bishops on the feast of our lady of Guadalupe: “Fiel a su Maestro, que es su Hijo. El ùnico Redentor, jamás quiso tomar algo de su Hijo. Jamás se presenta como co-redentora. No. Discípula. Cuando nos vengan con historias de que hay que declararla esto, o hacer otro dogma o esto, no nos perdamos en tonterías: María es mujer, es nuestra señora, María es madre de su Hijo y de la Santa Iglesia jerárquica.” Francis not like the divinity of Mary nor learning languages such as Latin.
So happy to see this article. Hope there is more discussion of these important topics between the Holy Father and the Bishops in the United States. Seems the language barrier is still a bit of an issue. And It appears the evangelization and proselytizing definitions still need hashed out, so we the faithful can live them. Always good to see Bishops support Church teachings while still pastoring.
However I do not understand Bishop Gomez’s continued comments on the faithful and immigration. Yes these are our brothers and sisters and we love them and welcome them, but does he understand many of us want “legal” immigration. We do not want anyone breaking the law. And we need laws. We cannot forget God gave commandments, he’s not against law and order in society. And yes I do think some Californians are still prejudice, but that is not immigration, and needs to be discussed as such and spoken against..