Inspired by the speaker, not the speech

By REGINALD STACKHOUSE
Monday, July 29, 2002

His appeal for young people to remember that the clergy's only purpose is to do good reminded them that pedophiles and other sex abusers constitute a small minority among priests. He urged the young to follow those who remain true to their vows, a timely word to anyone wondering how they can believe in a church where such scandal can go on for years.

But if the Pope acknowledged "a deep sense of sadness and shame" for the scandals that have rocked the church, left unsaid was remorse for the past episcopal toleration of them, or any hint that the Vatican will approve the disciplinary policy recently adopted by bishops in the United States.

He called on young people to choose holiness as the imperative for being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding his audience that freedom demands personal responsibility.

His words were a welcome call after years when moral authority has been challenged, but a listener could wonder if there was only one way a Christian could understand holiness.

Implicit but unspoken was that, for the Pope, holiness is what the Vatican says it is, including the rejection of condoms to cope with the AIDS crisis in Africa, or even the practice of family planning.

Solidarity was another appeal of this papal homily, but there was no word about ecumenical relations with other Christians or with other faiths, even though for decades ecumenism has been on the agenda of every church; in a multicultural society, interfaith understanding is an imperative.

The young people were told they were the hope of the third millennium, but they were not told that hope for peace could include their coming closer to other spiritual traditions than previous generations.

There were paradoxes in the event as well as the homily. The Pope's words were addressed to a young people's rally, but except for singing choruses, reading scripture, and cheering the Pope over and over, young people were not in the leadership. Every speaker from the platform was a male senior citizen. Even the president of the council of the laity was a cardinal archbishop. Was there an implicit statement that the Roman Catholic Church wants young people, but wants them as followers; wants them to believe, but to believe in a top-down institution?

John Paul looked to the future as he faced the young people who will be the world of the future, but the implicit vision was a future shaped by the past. He was told that his papacy had shown his church how the Second Vatican Council should be understood, but his address to the rally gave no hint that the church of the future should include that council's openness to change. The power of 21st-century technology was everywhere, but not a hint of 21st-century thinking.

His Holiness also appealed to young people to respond to vocations into the ministry, but did not mention that so few men have been entering the exclusively male clergy that there is a critical shortage in the United States and Canada. The mass was conducted according to an updated liturgy, but John Paul's pontificate will not go down in history for its dedication to change. So was the final mass a memorable event? Yes.

The real inspiration of the Pope's message came not from what he said or left unsaid. It came from the man himself. In the three intensive days of this phenomenal rally, he showed his heroic side, bearing gracefully stress and strain that could have daunted someone not suffering the pain and debilitation he was enduring -- even accepting -- as part of his vocation.

At no time or place was this more dramatic than his presiding over an entire mass before what may have been the largest worship service Canada has ever known.

His extraordinary performance gave people like myself another reason to admire this unique personality even though we have to disagree with him so deeply, so frequently.

Reginald Stackhouse is Principal Emeritus and Research Professor at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.