An Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop Prays for Pope Francis

[DonViejo]

Gene Robinson

The pontiff will need God’s strength to turn his loving words into real action that transforms the Catholic Church.

I love this new pope. I pray for him every day—for his ministry, his safety, and the daunting tasks that lay before him. I like all the connotations of “Francis,” the papal name he took, conjuring the saint whose humility, sympathy for the fragile condition of humankind, and his commitment to the poor still are both exemplary and legendary.

But I am under no illusions that the journey ahead will be easy for this new pope, assuming that he continues to move in the directions he has thus far signaled. And let’s be clear: Pope Francis has, so far, only changed the tenor and tone of the voice of the Church he leads. That is no small thing, of course, when most Catholics and non-Catholics alike experienced his predecessor as aloof, hierarchical, and pretentious.

Perhaps most dramatic in that change of tone came in his question, after he was asked about gay priests: “Who am I to judge?” Who indeed? His immediate predecessors seemed not to hesitate in heaping judgment on homosexuals, women (especially those who made the excruciating decision to have an abortion), the divorced, and a vast array of people who fell short of the Vatican’s moral ideal (exempting at times, of course, members of the Church’s own clergy and hierarchy from those same ideals).

How odd that the leader of the Catholic Church would make big news, espousing an attitude promoted by Jesus of Nazareth himself. Jesus dramatically lived out the command to “judge not,” so why would it be such news when his followers (not to mention the Pope!) would follow in his humble, non-judgmental footsteps?! It is only a newsworthy development because there had been little evidence of non-judgmental and loving acceptance by his predecessors.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/16/an-openly-gay-episcopal-bishop-prays-for-pope-francis.html

[hrmjustin]

1. Gene is a great man.

[cbayer]

2. I'm so glad that Gene Robinson is writing for the daily beast.

The more exposure he gets, the better.

He is someone that may be able to hold Francis's feet to the fire.

[skepticscott]

3. You'd think god would hold his feet to the fire

if the pope and the RCC weren't doing god's will in their vendetta against homosexuals. And if they ARE doing god's will, the word of Gene Robinson is meaningless, isn't it? He should want the will of his god done, too.