I must admit I’ve not devoted my full attention to the pope’s visit to the United States. I find him an attractive figure, and particularly am impressed with his devotion to the poor, and appreciate his challenge to unfettered capitalism and his call to religious attention to the ecological crisis. However, while he has moved the issues to the back burner and has provided a more compassionate face to their enforcement, he has not moved from the church’s Medieval understanding of anything that touches on human sexuality, leaving a wake of sorrow that continues. Like all in this life, and everyone I know, the pope is complex.
And even though I’m not following it all closely, with his visit here those attractive parts have been on full display. This morning I’ve come to understand he gave a shout out to two American Catholics who have been influential in my life, Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day.
I would hope everyone knows about them. But, I also know that isn’t necessarily so.
In the past I offered brief reflections on Thomas Merton here and here. And for an overview I find the Wikipedia article a good place to start.
I couldn’t find anything worth pointing a reader to that I’d written on Dorothy Day, but the Wikipedia article is pretty good.
I know while on this trip the pope is also going to officially recognize a Franciscan friar who founded most of the California missions as a saint. As that friar was tied up in the genocide of the local peoples, although one could argue he offered an alternative to extermination through functional enslavement, I find this canonization past problematic.
Frankly, if one wants saints, I don’t think it necessary to go much farther than these two amazing people who also happen to be home grown.
Would that ceremony be for them…
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In