3/18/13. MY RESPONSE TO THE ELECTION OF POPE FRANCIS

BLOG 3/18/13: MY RESPONSE TO THE ELECTION OF POPE FRANCIS

I was asked multiple times last week (as were many of us) about my response to the election of Pope Francis (Archbishop Bergoglio of Argentina). Actually, my response was a part of a whole jumble of thoughts that had been occupying my mind. Earlier in the week I had been pondering an article in Salon about the Millennial generation’s response to the whole political process, entitled: “Don’t write off millennials just yet.” That led to another document: Government By and For Millennials.

A part of the conclusion of those articles has to do with the fact that this emerging generation firmly believe that government can and should play a role in solving society’s most urgent and complex problems, but they want a different kind of government which is more inclusive and more responsive—they want to be part of the decision-making process. They want to focus on common vision and common values … that sort of thing. They want to be part of the process.

If you stop and think about it, a significant part of the emergence of the whole field of information technology has come from such bright Millennial folk, as have the huge companies created by them. Or think of the fact that most of the so-called “fathers of our American government” (James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, etc.) were actually quite young, and so created a whole new form of government never before seen in the world.

Or, closer to the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel last week, think of the fact that St. Francis was a restive young adult when he initiated what became the Franciscan Order. Ignatius of Loyola and his peers were young, entrepreneurial, visionary disciples of Jesus and created the missionary order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), which included along the way young Francis Xavier, and later young Bartholomé de Las Casus (remember the movie: The Mission?). So nearly all of the Roman Catholic orders were movements of life and vision and mission initiated by young, creative, imaginative minds.

This is a generation that also is more at home with such esoteric new fields as chaos theory, and complexity science, and all of the implications of those frontiers of thought. And last week this old octogenarian was also trying to wrap my geriatric brain around those concepts.

Out of that jumble came this interesting thought: All of those Cardinals (Princes of the Church) in the Sistine Chapel were between sixty and eighty years old, and essentially captive to the patterns and traditions of the church of the past (many of which are quite commendable). But what if the make-up of that Conclave were to have been disciples of Christ, knowledgeable about the demands of discipleship (as recorded in the New Testament documents)—and between twenty and forty years old? What if they could look on church and world with fresh, new, imaginative 21st century eyes? What if they appreciated the myriad of complex systems within the total Christian church, and how these systems were interacting with their cultural environments? Who would they have chosen as their leader, or would they have replaced the one pope with some creative new and composite understanding of the throne of Peter, that would both preserve the rich heritage of the past, but be able to respond to and appropriate and architect a new culture of interactive social networking and all of the realities of globalization?

Complex? No question. Easy solutions? No. But the one who is ultimately building the church is not any ecclesiastical hierarchy, but Jesus Christ. Oh, this could be a fascinating challenge to work on. That’s my jumble of thoughts, … which probably goes nowhere, but it resonates with many of my younger friends. Stand by.

[If you find these Blogs provocative or useful, recommend them to your friends.]

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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