Pope Francis' recent warning
against overemphasizing moral teachings against abortion, same-sex
marriage and contraception means that U.S. bishops should emulate his
positive approach to evangelization, not shift the priorities of their
public policy agenda, said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York.
"What he's saying is that if the perception of the church is of a scold
who's always nagging and always negative and always fearful, we're not
going to make many converts, because nobody wants to join the church out
of fear or (join a) a paranoid group," the cardinal told Catholic News Service Oct. 8.
"If we emphasize the positive, the gracious, the embracing, the warm,
inviting side of the church, then we're going to attract people," he
said. "And that of course is what Pope Francis is saying and doing on
steroids."
Cardinal Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Oct. 7, along with Archbishop
Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., conference vice president; Msgr.
Ronny E. Jenkins, general secretary; and Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield,
associate general secretary.
The cardinal said the group told the pope about some of the U.S.
bishops' "pastoral priorities," including support for immigration reform
and objections to the Affordable Care Act, "because it excludes the
baby in the womb and the undocumented worker, and also because the
implementation of it would place a severe burden on our religious
convictions and our consciences" by mandating coverage of contraception
in violation of Catholic moral teaching.
Pope Francis "was very attentive to that and he listened very closely," Cardinal Dolan said.
According to Cardinal Dolan, U.S. bishops have a "lot of issues we're
hung up on, including immigration, the budget battle, proper health
care, world peace, Syria, hunger and the HHS (contraception) mandates,"
he said. But the "only one that ever seems to get attention would be any
kind of controversial promotion that we would do in defense of life, in
defense of marriage and in defense of religious freedom, because they
tend to be the more combative issues of the day."
In an interview published Sept. 19, Pope Francis said that the church
"cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the
use of contraceptive methods. ... We have to find a new balance;
otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a
house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel."
Cardinal Dolan said that "when the Holy Father suggested this new
strategy, I don't think he got a longer standing ovation from anybody
than he did from the bishops in the United States. Because we've been
saying for a long time, 'Listen to everything we say, don't just listen
to us when we speak about your pet issue.'"