Ordinary 26

The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 125; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32

In the aftermath of Pope Benedict XVI’s forceful denunciation of gender theory in 2008, three openly gay citizens of Malta announced they were excommunicating themselves from the Catholic Church in protest.  

In response, then-Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo, Malta, delivered a blunt message: “Whoever does not accept Christ’s teachings should be honest with themselves and excommunicate themselves from the church.” Regrettably, I expect there are some Catholics who agree with this bishop’s assessment.

These words of Bishop Grech as you can imagine were very painful to people including a local Maltese group known as Drachma. Drachma was formed to provide a welcome space for LGBTQ+ Catholics and other people of faith. So it came as a surprise to the group when on his own initiative Bishop Grech showed up to a Drachma-sponsored lecture series entitled “Gender, Sexuality and Spirituality.” Joseanne Peregin, a founding member of the Drachma Parents’ Group, recalled, “He arrived humbly, shy and cautious” telling the room of just over 20 people, “I have come to listen”. 

When it came time for Peregin to speak, she didn’t mince words. She told the bishop: “I hold you personally responsible for making my son give up on the church,” specifically citing his terse message in defense of Pope Benedict’s remarks. 

“He was clearly moved,” Peregin recalled. “At the end, he put his hand on his heart and asked forgiveness on behalf of the church. We knew that we were talking not so much to a bishop, but a man who understood the pain of the families in the same way that the church is supposed to be a mother”.

“I have come to listen”. 

Listening entails giving our full attention to the speaker with the primary aim of understanding them and their experience. Listening is not about us. Listening entails humility. Humility is acknowledging to ourselves that we do not understand an issue in all of its complexities.  Humility is admitting that our life experience is not the totality of all life experiences.

I can’t imagine the courage it took for Bishop Grech to enter this group unannounced not knowing what kind of reception he would receive.

“I have come to listen”. 

One of the great qualities of Pope Francis is his willingness to dialogue. Francis enters into dialogue even with people who are opposed to him or do not have his same values or beliefs. How does Francis do what so many of us cannot even fathom doing? Because at the heart of dialogue is the humble act of listening. A personal acknowledgement that he, Francis, Bishop of Rome does not understand everything in its fullness. Do any of us?

In this light, Francis has invited the whole Catholic Church to humbly enter into a listening dialogue as a permanent way of life for the future. This manner of church governance called a synod is ancient and was recovered in the reforms of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Francis desires that the Church in all of her members and at all levels to learn to humbly listen to each other as we strive to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading us. See, the real dialogue is not between members of the Church but rather between the Church and the Holy Spirit. It is through sharing our human experiences, stories and insights that the Spirit speaks. Moreover, cannot the Spirit choose to speak the truth through anyone?

Consider the young Daniel when the innocent Susanna is falsely accused or Mary at the wedding feast of Cana: “Do whatever he tells you,” the centurion at the crucifixion: “Truly, this was the Son of God” or the woman of Samaria at the encounter at the well. A teenager, a mother, a soldier who represents an oppressive political power and whose spiritual beliefs are radically different and an outcast from a heretical religious group. Cannot the Spirit choose to speak the truth through anyone?

Is this not also true today? Thus the need for humble listening among the People of God. Are we willing to listen and discern the Spirit speaking through gay, lesbian and transgendered people, through the experiences of women from around the world, through the Black and Brown experience, through the voices of the poor and abandoned, through anyone, even voices like the Samaritan woman or the Roman centurion from outside our community?

Whether you are aware of it or not, in October 2021, Francis officially opened a multiyear synod, a process that has been characterized as the “largest attempt at human consultation in the history of the world.”

The Synod begins in Rome this Thursday, 4 October 2023, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Quite an auspicious day. Saint Francis is one of the few figures in history, a Catholic deacon, preacher, dreamer and reformer whose simple example of life has touched people across time, cultures and beliefs. The Spirit speaking to him and us even through creation.

After his experience of listening at the Drachma lecture, Bishop Grech on another occasion took to the floor of the Vatican’s synod hall.  In his speech he called on the church to recognize the complex realities of family life today and specifically said it was time to revisit the way the church talks about certain issues.

“I must confess to facing the urgency of this need while listening to families of homosexuals as well as to the same persons having such an orientation and who feel wounded by the language directed towards them [by the Church]”. These words could be applied to other groups of people as well in the Church. We need to humbly seek the truth together and speak a language that conveys the truth and charity of the Gospel.

Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi reflects Bishop Grech’s experience this way:

“Brothers and sisters:

complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,

united in heart, thinking one thing.

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of pride,

rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,

each looking out not for their own interests,

but for those of others.

Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, "he emptied himself…”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

See: National Catholic Reporter, Rome — September 25, 2023, “Cardinal Mario Grech: Central figure in pope’s plan to change Catholic Church” by Christopher White.