Reading some of the latest conclave buzz this morning, I’m reminded that the cardinals, like the rest of the world, want everything from the new pope. Administrative prowess and soul-throbbing charisma. The persistent plea for the latter half of this combo reveals a misguided optimism: that all we have to do is find the right words to explain ourselves to one another and to the world. That will make the misunderstandings and the hurt feelings, not to mention the corruption and abuse – all this unpleasantness – go away.
Of course we could do with better communication skills, to put it mildly – but countering negative media blitz with positivity, and trotting around a public-speaking pope, are shallow correctives. We are way past the point when appropriate words and strong ‘presence’ can make things better. I do not think that Catholics (and friends and would-be friends of Catholics) have forgotten how many truly beautiful words we have on the tips of our tongues and throughout our tradition. Yet, many worry about the degree to which these words are being fulfilled in the concrete daily life that we create together.
The Church Is, in Part, a Human Institution
To get straight to a provocative point, the papal transition is already illustrating managerial logic that defies understanding – perhaps even inside, but certainly outside Vatican City. Pope Benedict’s papal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, is going to live with the pope emeritus in his new home and serve as the papal secretary of the new pope. […stunned pause…] The Vatican spokesman has said, to quote the Catholic News Service story, that such “a dual role” would not “interfere” with the papacy of Benedict’s successor because “Archbishop Ganswein’s job is primarily one of logistics – organizing the pope’s daily schedule of meetings and audiences – and not a job that brings him into contact with other papal decisions.”
Does not everyone know that the ‘secretary’ is the most powerful person in any office? Agenda setting is the sin qua non of any organization, and direct daily contact with the executive an unparalleled privilege. I can hear the voices of fellow theologians reminding me that the Catholic Church is not a mere organization. Let me be clear, I do not in any way want to reduce the Catholic Church to a human institution. But no matter your ecclesiology, it is in part a human institution. To our detriment, we too often let a correct emphasis on the ‘something more’ turn into a discomfort with this basic fact. This attitude diminishes the very real significance of the administrative tasks that enable everything else to happen within a collective body. It also obscures dysfunction.
Prioritizing the Mundane Would Be Impressive
As a friend of mine likes to say, if any movement of the Spirit is going to stay alive, someone has got to make the sandwiches. If we want to really impress the world and fortify our struggling bits of church-self, we will ask for a pope who will do the equivalent work for the Vatican. We want, and I admit that we need, a globetrotting papacy – preferably one that brings into conversation the factions and geographies of our church. Yet, the first priority is to clean up Vatican City, to get the files in order, so to speak, to be explicitly a functioning human institution.
We do not need a theologian or a catechist or even a strikingly holy man to teach us how beautiful and true still is the Catholic Church. We need to watch someone implementing the mundane, reforming tasks that can make this palpable amidst various proven and alleged scandals. I definitely long for a Catholic Church that communicates healthily throughout its verticality and horizontal reach, that forms a web-shaped pulse of the active love of Christ. I would love to have a pope who could help us to see and participate in that reality. Right now, however, I need the very basics of healthy organizational dynamics. Just give us a boring, effective leader, please.
