Shaking things up once in a while

Every organization needs a good shake-up now and then. The creaky moorings that once held an organization firmly to its purpose need to be occasionally loosened or tossed off entirely. This is healthy and natural. Sometimes the shake-up is initiated by outside forces, but sometimes the organization itself has the sense to cast free of the past and trust to the future.

The Catholic Church seems to have shaken itself this past week. Time will tell if Pope Francis will be the change agent as was John XXIII or John Paul II, but initial reports show this pontiff is a right angle turn from the past papal prerogative. Early conclave reports from the Wall Street Journal, among other news sources, indicate that during a short four-minute speech that apparently clinched his election, Bergoglio warned the conclave cardinals against becoming a "self-referential" church, one that is so closed in on its internal problems that it has forgotten its true purpose: humility, dignity, and justice.

Please forgive the unusual, unsecular nature of this particular blog, but 12-years of inside perspective as a Catholic journalist are hard to shake. I do see in the Catholic Church a parallel challenge that faces any large, established organization. Projects that were once shiny, innovative, and daring are inevitably calcified by the salt spray of years. No amount of vigorous polishing can replace a sheen once time dulls the central idea. Those organizations that are in most danger, are those that are unwilling or unable to adapt to changes in the world. Change is hard for an individual set in his or her ways; it takes biblical labor to change a large organization.

When challenged, it is too easy for an organization to turn in upon itself, to become defensive, to become "self-referential" as Bergoglio said, justifying its existence by meaningless, time-consuming, self-serving, bureaucratic ritual. This can happen to a business who forgets to serve its customers, to a school who forgets to teach its students, to a non-profit who forgets its advocacy, and to a church who forgets its core mission. The core of the Catholic Church is not the Curia in Rome, nor the College of Cardinals, nor even the diocesan chanceries across the world. Its core is Gospel of the Good News. If Catholic Church seeks to regain relevance in the modern world, it will have to proclaim its Good News in the streets and neighborhoods of its local parishes.

I think Pope Francis understands that. I wonder if he will be able to persuade others.