The Pope’s Paygrade

Welcoming everyone without exception into the church

10/08/2023

Mt 21:33-43 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times."

A couple of weeks ago someone sent me a funny email. It was pictures of church signs with very insightful sayings. One said, “What happens in Vegas…is forgiven here.” Another very honest sign read, “Come hear our pastor, he’s not very good, but he’s quick.” The pastor clearly does not get to approve these signs. Another sign apropos to our time said, “Jesus is coming! Hopefully before the election!” Ain’t that the truth!

Another sign targeted married couples, saying, “Do not criticize your wife’s judgment. Just look at who she married!” Criticizing your spouse is a knife that cuts both ways. And here is a last one that is a little racy, and I hope you don’t mind me saying it out loud in church, but it was actually on a Catholic church sign. It read: “Lent is coming. Get your ash in church.” I practiced saying that carefully.

Now, the common thread running throughout all these signs – the serious as well as the silly – was an invitation to live our Christian faith more authentically by coming to church on Sunday. “Get your ash in church.” Why is coming to church so critical to Christianity? Well, because here we encounter not only Christ, but also our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we have to love both.

And let’s just admit that we are all sinner and all have quirks, and odd habits, and even some annoying ways of praying. But isn’t that true in every family? Every family has that odd-ball uncle or that eccentric aunt. I once heard the Church described as the Addams Family, the TV show (since we all come from Adam and Eve). That is, we are all just a bunch of lovable monsters. In church we meet all these monsters and learn to love them, because we are one of them.

The readings today describe the Church as a “vineyard” in order to highlight God’s care and concern for the Church. In the first reading Isaiah says, “Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song, songs concerning his vineyard.” You see, you write and sing about those you love, and God deeply loves his vineyard, his Church. The Responsorial Psalm beseeched the Lord, “Look down from heaven and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted.”

And in the gospel Jesus lays the blame for the poor condition of the vineyard at the feet of the religious leaders entrusted with its care. And therefore God has to send his son to die to save it. In other words, Jesus died for the Church, Addams’ Family, a bunch of lovable monsters. And that is whole point of the Church: to teach us how to love everyone like Jesus does, that is, without exception. It’s easy to love Jesus; it’s hard to love his little brothers and sisters.

It is in this context that I would like to say a word about the Synod on Synodality taking place in Rome during the month of October. You may have heard about this meeting of cardinals, bishops and lay people because it has caught the attention of the mainstream media. Sometimes the news distracts us from the main purpose of the meeting. Some outlets are saying that we may change traditional teaching about women being ordained as priests, or marriage for homosexuals, or the divorced and remarried being able to receive Holy Communion. I do not think that is the purpose of the synod, but rather, to teach us how to love everyone, all the lovable monsters that make up the Church, including me and you.

In order to avoid the hysteria and the hype, let me suggest you maintain a little balance. On the one hand, Pope Francis has said that everyone should feel welcome in the church. And he is 100% correct. In his opening homily, he declared: “Come, you who are weary and oppressed, come, you who have lost your way or feel far away, come, you who have closed the doors to hope: the church is here for you. Tutti, tutti, tutti!” That’s Italian for “Everyone, everyone, everyone!” Jesus’ love knows no limits; our love should not either.

But that openness and welcome must be balanced by acknowledging that aspects of the Catholic faith can never be compromised or cut out. Bishop Robert Barron cautioned: “But some have been suggesting that the synod ought to consider a change in the Church’s moral teaching and sacramental discipline in order to make alienated Catholics feel more included.”

Then Bishop Barron added: “We have to come to the level of real argument based on the Bible, the theological tradition, and the natural moral law.” In other words, there are some thing in Catholicism that will never change, things not even a pope can change. To put in modern parlance, “it is above the pope’s paygrade.”

One way to strike this delicate balance between welcoming everyone and teaching the authentic faith is an insight that C. S. Lewis shared in his classic Mere Christianity. He wrote: “Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbor was to explain and defend that belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Did you catch that? “All Christians at all times.”

That is, when we seek to welcome everyone to the Synod on Synodality, we should not only think of those living in 2023, but also “all Christians at all times,” including St. Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Leo the Great, etc. As the pope himself insisted, “Everyone, everyone, everyone!” And then if we take a majority vote on Church teaching at the Synod, I think you can see how some things will never change. And that, too, is how God continues to care for his vineyard, the Church, a bunch of lovable monsters.

Praised be Jesus Christ!