Many articles have been written about how Pope Francis is challenging the Catholic Right in the United States. I will give my two cents on that topic tomorrow. But, Pope Francis also challenges the Catholic Left in important ways and the Catholic Left should allow itself to be challenged.
A friend of mine likes to say, in jest to be sure but with a kernel of earnestness as well, that if you are a leftie Catholic, and you are not satisfied with Pope Francis, it is time to think about finding a different religion. I do not want any Catholic looking for another religion. Instead, the experience of discontent should be a prod – not to the pope, but to ourselves. Sadly, such is the ideological reification with the Church today, too few people allow themselves to be prodded out of our self-satisfied preconceptions and settled opinions, and thus grow incapable of experiencing the newness of the Spirit to which Pope Francis is so clearly, and repeatedly, calling the Catholic faithful.
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