My previous entry, being a piece written originally for elsewhere, made me reminisce. As a result, I found this piece, I wrote for Pentecost, 2016. I share it as, while it comes from the pre-COVID-19 era, it so speaks of this time. Prophetic?
"Politics in our world - USA, Brazil, Philippines, Venezuela (as I was reminded by a member of today’s congregation), Iraq, Syria and so many other countries (too many to list) - is a mess. We can no longer simply say that elections are won by politicians who make the most promises or who have the best policies, or who are the most brazen or the strongest or most brutish, or who are the most corrupt offering the biggest prizes. Any assessment of election wins has to go much deeper.
We lack truly good leaders. Too often promises are made but never met. This has been going on for far too long and people are sick of it. People no longer stand by political establishments and elites which continue to be corrupt and just do not deliver on what they promise. Revolutions have failed and people linger in endless bewilderment. People can no longer wait for a delivery of what they need to live and enjoy life. People flee war, persecution and fear and have nowhere to go. War and terror rage without a sense of end in sight. People are tired of living under a security threat. More and more people are becoming poorer and losing their sense of power in society, not enjoying their rightful share of the goods of this earth. So they look beyond the usual boundaries and vote for the unusual, the rough and tough, the cowboy in politics.
I am not here to talk politics and I am not looking to lay blame or play a political game. That is not my place or role. I am a theologian and I want to talk theologian to theologian and so go much deeper with you than what is presented by political analysis. Yes, we as Church are all theologians. We are theologians not necessarily because of the books we read, the study we pursue or the tomes we may write. Rather we are theologians because of our baptism and how good a theologian we are is judged by how actively we live our baptism as people of faith. Theology is primarily about what we do in living out our baptism commitment to live the gospel and simply help each other, our neighbor.
As theologians, we need to reflect on our world and engage in discussion. So what I present here is merely presented to start off that process of theological discussion and reflection. This is not about giving the answers nor is it about stopping discussion.
We look at our world through its political reality and go deeper. While our world needs good leaders and politicians, it needs even more so good theologians – those who will engage our world at the deeper levels.
No longer can the Church, as it has for the past three decades, just criticize our world for being ruled by materialism, consumerism or individualism. We have to go beyond such simplistic classifications of our world which can no longer be fully described by –isms. Our world faces much deeper problems for it is becoming an empty place, with poverty that is much more than just a lack of wealth and resources enjoyed by citizens.
Our world is one where so many know disillusionment. Our world is one where more and more people find a loss of hope and a loss of dignity. These are themes of humanity and they run deep.
This is the world we face and its challenge to us is – how do we respond?
During the past week, Pope Francis spoke with the women religious leaders of the Church. He spoke forthrightly about women and their place in the Church and the need for them to assume their rightful place for the good of the whole Church. He did not approach it as a power play or as a politician. Rather he approached the place of women in Church as a theologian and in doing so offered us all a model for mission, for building up people and the kingdom.
1) The right of women to participate fully in Church is through baptism.
2) Clericalism and the clericalising of the Church are dangers to be avoided and eradicated.
3) Women have an incisive role in the decision-making in the Church.
4) Women have a voice that needs to be heard.
5) Women are to be empowered for leadership in service.
In talking with women religious, Francis is offering a five step model for approaching human development and community building in general. This five step model simply put is:
1) Human dignity belongs to all and this is the basis for working with any people in pursuing their development.
2) Address the evils and abuses that keep people oppressed or hold them back from reaching their rightful potential.
3) Give a role to the excluded.
4) Give a voice to the voiceless.
5) Empower those marginalized in society for leadership in service.
I read this four years later and I was just amazed. So I had to share again.
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