A People of Hope by John L. Allen Jr

Author:John L. Allen, Jr. [Allen, John L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-71851-8
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

In general, you seem committed to keeping lines of communication open even with people with whom you have political disagreements.

I just had a dustup with a bishop I really admire, and a guy I think is a darn good bishop. He told me that when he goes to a parish, the pastor usually tells him, “By the way, Senator So-and-So is going to be there, and Assemblywoman So-and-So is going to be there.” This is a lovable, popular bishop I’m talking about. He tells the pastor that if these politicians are aggressively against us on pro-life, and if they’re arguing on the floor of the assembly for a rollback on the statute of limitations [on litigation against the Catholic Church over sexual-abuse claims], then “I don’t want ’em here.” He said, “I’m not going to eat fried chicken with them, and I’m not going to have my picture with them outside at the dunking booth. They want it both ways, and it’s time they saw that their actions have consequences.” This bishop told me, “The Jewish community does that. They’re not going to honor some guy who consistently votes to cut off funds to Israel, and it’s time for us to act that way. Right now we’re patsies … they take us for granted, and they don’t take us seriously.”

There’s something to be said for taking a tough stance like that, but at the end of the day, is it the best way to go? Or might it be that because I ate a hot dog at the parish picnic with a guy who’s not with us on pro-life, that I can call him later and ask, “Hey, there’s a bill coming up. I know we don’t exactly see eye to eye, but is there maybe some wiggle room here? Can I ask you not to vote for that?” Do I have more of an entrée because we had a hot dog and beer together? I hope so.

I don’t want to reduce this entirely to a political strategy, because I also believe that as a pastor of souls, I can never reduce another person entirely to his or her political positions. Part of the reason I don’t like to shut the door to conversation is precisely because I’m trying to relate to the whole person, so my concern isn’t just with how a particular vote turns out. It’s with this person, and my hunch is that I’ll have more luck trying to nudge them closer to what the Church considers to be the truth if I’m in contact, in dialogue, than if I’m standing off to the side tossing rhetorical bricks. A bishop in this day and age does have to be a shrewd political tactician, but we must never forget that fundamentally we’re pastors, not lobbyists.

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