Pope Francis embraces people on the margins. Will his church follow? (Guest Opinion by Stephen Bowman) – syracuse.com

Stephen Sarsfield Bowman is president of Peregrine Senior Living, based in Syracuse.

As a recovering atheist, I am a keen observer of religion. I recently read with dismay that for the first time in U.S. history, fewer than 50% of Americans are members of a church, synagogue or mosque. Not sure if the cause is secularism, materialism or rapidly moving technology, but to me, the decimation of faith seems most pronounced in the Catholic Church, where I worship.

According to the Syracuse Diocese, last year 20 of our priests passed away, but only four were ordained, and that was a record high. Nationally, there are over 3,500 parishes without active priests. To paraphrase Lincoln, we need leaders that have the courage to face the arithmetic, or the Catholic Church might soon suffer the same fate that befell the Shakers; greatness behind us but possibly now only a ghostly future.

When Pope Francis took the name of the saint from Assisi, I believe that like his namesake, he wanted to rebuild the church. But I think he wants to reconstitute the church in the progressive spirit of Vatican II and not the conservative direction taken by Pope John Paul II. His acceptance of gay rights and passion for and social justice are telling examples of his aspiration for love over fear.

In 2013, Pope Francis created an uproar over gay rights, when he famously asked rhetorically, Who am I to judge the gay lifestyle and spiritual potency of their lives. As if to underscore his respect, he recently wrote a letter to an American gay activist Michael OLoughlin, praising his LGBTQ ministry during the AIDS pandemic. And in 2015, some will remember Pope Francis gave his blessing to a gay couple for the first time.

These gestures all coming at a time when the official teaching of the church is to condemn homosexuality as depraved and abhorrent, claiming homosexuality as intrinsically immoral, its acts objectively disordered.

But I believe Pope Francis takes a welcoming view towards gays, despite the objections from his church, because he doesnt find the Bible very convincing on the subject. The verses usually pointed to for renouncing homosexuality are vague at best. The story of the sin of Onan could easily be understood as the sin of masturbation. The tale of Sodom and Gomorrah as the sin of rape. And 1 Corinthians 6, which does condemn homosexuality, also condemns premarital sex, worshipping other false religions, drunkards, misers, and slanders, all in one breath, and treated equally.

Maybe Pope Francis is thinking that possibly in the past 2,000 years that we have learned something about love, and that love is about touching souls, not sex. After all, I love my wifes soul, not because she is a woman. I think this view is taken as common sense in the world I live in today, as we embrace our gay family members and dear friends.

This hypocrisy has personal relevancy for me. Growing up, I had a dear woman friend who was so moved by the Mass that she cried through the service. She probably should have become a priest, but of course that was not an option. Years later she realized she was gay and married a beautiful woman and adopted two children. I ran into her recently and asked if she still cried through Mass. She said, Are you kidding me, I havent been to church in 30 years because of the sexism and homophobia. I thought what a profound loss for the church, and for the millions she represents.

Another example of the conflict between the church establishment and more marginal members of our flock occurs in the area of social justice. Recently, to mark the Catholic Churchs world day of the poor, Pope Francis traveled to Assisi to greet 500 pilgrims that had been drug addicts, refugees, homeless and disabled. It was a true poor peoples march. He said the poor are often seen as an annoyance and we want to blame the poor for their condition, so we dont have to carry out an examination of our laws and injustices. He went on to say he wanted a poor church, and for the poor.

But just last month, Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops railed against new social justice movements that rose out of the murder of George Floyd, decrying them as pseudo-religious. He argued that many of these protests are profoundly atheistic and grow out of many historic heresies, but not the Christian faith. But of course, he ignores the fact that in 2020 Pope Francis wrote a book called Let Us Dream, where he expressed unambiguous support for the protesters and their compassionate vision.

Pope Franciss ambition for a welcoming and non-judgmental church I take very close to heart, for I am a lapsed Catholic, many times over, yet I love to go to Mass now for the first time in many years. I have come to believe that the truly fully human life is a spiritual life. While my faith is not dependent on the miracles of Jesus, like St. Francis, as he expressed in his famous Breastplate, where he worshipped Brother Sun and Sister Moon, I do marvel at the miracle of the universe, and the great mystery of life. I suppose I am a bit of a mystic now, that loves to celebrate Mass humbly with my parish community and our common humanity, and in awe of the world we share. Thank God.

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Pope Francis embraces people on the margins. Will his church follow? (Guest Opinion by Stephen Bowman) - syracuse.com