Pope Francis Hopes for Communal, Not Top Down, Decisions


Soon the Pope will start the long and arduous Catholic process to change where its decisions come from. He does not want the "top down" model to remain. Instead, he wants lots of interaction between local parishes and the Vatican.

The Pope pointed out what I have maintained here since forever. The top down model which treats clergy as know all wise men plays with the heads of clergy. They, or some of them, begin to see themselves as aloof from those in the pews. Sited by the Pope are sex abuse, theft of Catholic funds and luxury housing, all encouraged by the notion clergy have been granted powers far beyond those of the average Joe in the pews.

I wish the Pope well in this effort but have my doubts he will pull it off. A sector of the clergy likes its luxury and power. We would expect those enjoying perks to hang onto them and claim Jesus guaranteed the perks for life when he told Peter upon this rock build this church. 

I don't understand the structure of the Catholic Church but I'm wondering if the new decentralized model will help Rome sidestep it dilemma with Germany. As we have discussed here, gay marriage has big approval margins in Europe. Many Catholics in Germans, probably the majority, want priests to perform Catholic marriage ceremonies for gay couples. It is evident many priests are already doing this under cover. The head of the German Catholic Church has endorsed gay marriage. Germany generates big money for the Vatican. The church needs a way for clergy in Germany to perform gay weddings. Maybe the Pope's innovation will do just that.

Catholic, as well as Protestant, leaders need to be thinking of ways to accommodate diverse views in their denominations. When I was young there were three TV networks and a handful of Christian denominations. Now there are 200 networks and denominations have been splitting up. It seems reasonable to expect this trend of diversity in views to keep expanding. While Protestants can just start a new group Catholics need to keep the new group within the old one or the house of cards collapses.

There have always been challenges to authority. The Pope hopes to accommodate these challenges with more decentralization.

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