Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
Last week, when the president of the United States insulted Pope Leo XiV and attempted to explain Christian theology to him, it became clear that at least one aspect of U.S. politics has totally jumped the shark. That is the binary, one-side-or-the-other framing of events along partisan lines. Because, on the one side, was a president and supporters trying to define calls for peace, justice, generosity, and love as unChristian and on the other was everyone else.
There are reasons why we are careful when discussing national politics — particularly because a foundational part of The Episcopal Church is to be a big enough tent to hold all political parties. And there are reasons why, in the present era, some are self-selecting out of conversation with us. But it is at times like these that we be reluctant to avoid challenging the misrepresentation of our common faith.
It doesn’t start or end for us with partisanship, but with truth. The pope is a better judge of theology than our president. And I would say the same about his predecessors, several of whom I vehemently disagreed with.
Consider, too, how normal it was just a century ago for protestants to speak so ill of the pope. Our own Book of Common Prayer has enshrined objectionable anti-catholic language for centuries. Therefore, let us not center our outrage on decorum and precedent, because sadly, there is precedence. Center instead on how wrong the president is about Jesus, about God, and about what it means to be a good neighbor. Or when a cabinet appointee quotes from Pulp Fiction rather than the Bible for prayer. These are people drawing the church into politics in ways the church is obligated to respond. So let us be generous and humble in our correction of the record.
With love,
Drew+
