Like many progressive-minded Catholics, I often feel a surge of joy when I think about Pope Francis and his compassionate sermons. Unfortunately, this is quickly tempered with the notion that most Christians do not share his attitudes.
Silence speaks volumes, and while the Pope waxes poetic on compassion and stewardship, most Christian lecterns in America remain silent on that which Jesus died for.
Christ championed caring for the sick, yet we remain the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare.
Jesus called for sheltering the homeless, but universal income and housing subsidies are demonized.
The Bible advocates for fair wages, yet the minimum wage is a sentence to poverty.
Christ commanded us to love God and to love thy neighbor, but love is not what I see for the foreign or downtrodden. I see no love for God in the way we abuse his Earthly Creation.
I would argue that saving the Church and halting the decline of religious adherents will come not through reaching outward but through searching inward. Find the light of Christ within our congregations and nurture it. Chase away the shadows of hypocrisy and allow the Holy Spirit to shine.
You will not feed this flame by choking it, you must allow God’s full expression of love to shine unhindered.
The Church must embrace science, the study of His miraculous wonders. God’s light is here.
The Church must embrace civil stewardship as an expression of God’s love for every man, woman, and child. God’s light is here.
The Church must embrace the diverse spectrum of God’s creation: black or white, gay or prone to delusional conspiracies. God’s light is here.
The Church must embrace change if it is to survive. God’s creation is not a granite statue, but an ever-shifting tapestry of form and color whose beauty is flawless in its imperfections. A Church that clings to the past slips farther away from God with each passing day.
Despite all of this, I have a tremendous amount of hope for the future.
Heed the words of Jesus and look to the children for a vision of God’s love and compassion. Their tolerance, social activism, and rebellious rejection of a broken society should be embraced and celebrated as a great source of joy. God’s light is here.
Noah Zorbaugh is an IT consultant with a diverse background working with industry-leading Silicon Valley, health care, and manufacturing companies.
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