At the head of our stable is Sandy Howison. When she retired at the end of this past year, Sandy had worked on St. Anthony Messenger for over 40 years, starting as a full-time employee and then transitioning to a part-time contractor after the birth of her children. 

But to those of us on staff, she has always been more than a contractor; she is a fellow staff member. She has raised the bar for all of us. Every time we thought we had it perfect, she would catch something else that none of us had seen. She knows this magazine inside and out—our style, our history, all of it. 

It has been said that all good things must come to an end. That certainly doesn’t make it any easier, though. That is why it was so difficult for the staff of this magazine to say goodbye to one of our key pieces. We will now rise to the challenge of carrying on her tradition of pinpoint accuracy for you, our readers. 

The New Testament provides several other references to house churches. These were evidently family homes where early believers would gather and ponder the life and message of Jesus.

For most Catholics, the word church conjures up images of stained-glass windows, altars, stations of the cross, wooden pews and large buildings with architecture ranging from Gothic to more modern styles.

Most of us link church with building, often giving a sense of stability to our faith, as well as a special space to worship God and to meet with other Church members. We easily take church buildings for granted. It is hard to imagine a community without at least one Catholic church.

But early on in the life of Catholicism, church buildings were not plentiful. Where did the earliest Christians gather before churches as we know them began to be built?

“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes” (Acts 2:46a). Chapter Two of Acts of the Apostles offers a brief yet curious insight into the lives of the earliest Christians those who either knew Jesus personally or who were convinced by Peter’s preaching at Pentecost and afterwards. The verse quoted above suggests that the first Christians met in various homes to “break bread” (the oldest term for celebrating the Eucharist) and to deepen their faith.

The New Testament provides several other references to house churches. These were evidently family homes where early believers would gather and ponder the life and message of Jesus and grow in their faith, supporting each other with prayer and Christian love. References to house churches occur within intriguing stories of faith, weaving together colorful glimpses of ancient Christian life.

Mary’s House Church

“When he [Peter] realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who is called Mark, where there were many people gathered in prayer ” (Acts 12:12).

This verse occurs after the ruler of Judea, King Herod Agrippa, suddenly became intolerant of Christians. Seeking to win support from Pharisaic Jews, he had James “the brother of the Lord” beheaded and Peter thrown into prison (12:1-3).

An angel visited him there and miraculously guided Peter’s escape. The amazed apostle ran to Mary’s house to tell the Christians praying there what had happened. The astonished worshipers listened while Peter asked them to tell others about this miracle.

While at least five different women named Mary appear in the New Testament, this Mary lived in Jerusalem and was one of the first Christians. No husband is mentioned, which may mean that she was a widow. Because she owned a home and had at least one servant, she was probably a woman of reasonable wealth. This Mary had a son named John Mark, who later accompanied Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey. According to tradition, this John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark.

Lydia’s House Church

“When they [Paul and Silas] had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left” (Acts 16:40).

Lydia, who sold purple cloth in Philippi, met Paul during his second missionary journey, as he crossed into Europe to preach the gospel. After spending some time in that city (now in ruins in northeastern Greece), Paul and Silas went along a river, seeking a place of prayer. There they met a group of women and began speaking to them, telling them about the life of Christ. Lydia was so profoundly struck by Paul’s words that she and her household were baptized and she offered Paul and Silas lodging in her home.

While evangelizing in Philippi, the two were unjustly accused of being disruptive and imprisoned. Wondrously, while the two missionaries were singing hymns and praying in their cramped cell, an earthquake abruptly opened the door and broke their shackles. The jailer and his family asked to be baptized.

Learning that both Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, the nervous city magistrates encouraged them to leave Philippi. After stopping at Lydia’s house to encourage the Christians there, Paul and Silas left for Thessalonica.

Prisca and Aquila’s House Churches

“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles.  Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ.” (Romans 16:3-5).

Prisca (also known as Priscilla) and Aquila first appear in Acts of the Apostles when Paul arrives in Corinth during his second missionary journey (18:1-2). Tentmakers by trade, this Jewish-Christian couple had recently left Rome after Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the city. Settling in Corinth, they allowed Paul, a fellow tentmaker, to stay at their home and assisted in his ministry.

When Paul went to Ephesus, this holy couple accompanied him. When Paul decided to move on again, Prisca and Aquila remained in Ephesus and let their home be used as a church (1 Corinthians 16:19). The couple clearly had learned a great deal during their time with Paul.

One story describes another Christian named Apollos as speaking in Corinth with tremendous fervor about the message of Christ. Although Prisca and Aquila were happy to have Apollos as a fellow Christian advocate, they noticed some errors in his message. They gently pulled him aside and corrected these inaccuracies. Apollos evidently appreciated this deeper knowledge, refined his orations and continued preaching with their blessing (Acts 18:24-28).

Paul’s Letter to the Romans indicates that Prisca and Aquila later returned to that city and established yet another house church there.

Nympha’s House Church

“Give greetings to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house” (Colossians 4:15).

When Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Colossae, he extended an additional greeting to the Christian community in Laodicea (now in ruins near Colossae in modern-day Turkey). This letter includes a greeting to Nympha, who apparently let her house be used as a church. Although some manuscripts give the masculine name “Nymphas,” most scholars agree that this person was a woman, Nympha.

The Letter to the Colossians also suggests that Paul may have sent a separate letter to the Church in Laodicea with a request that the Colossians and Laodiceans share their letters with each other (4:16). Unfortunately, no letter from Paul to the Laodiceans has survived; otherwise, we might know more about Nympha and her house church.

Because Laodicea and Colossae are so near and because Paul encouraged these Christian communities to share letters, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians was probably read to the Laodicean Christians at Nympha’s house church. The two towns may have shared some of the issues that Paul addressed in his Letter to the Colossians, especially tendencies to require gentile Christians to follow Jewish practices or to be in awe of “principalities and powers” (see 2:8-23).

Certainly, Nympha took to heart Paul’s appeal to abandon such customs and to trust completely in Jesus for truth.

Philemon and Apphia’s House Church

“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and our co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church at your house” (Philemon verses 1-2).

Philemon and Apphia, a well-to-do couple in Colossae, had become Christians through Paul’s ministry (verses 4-7). Some scholars think that Paul’s co-worker Archippus (Colossians 4:17, Philemon verse 2) was their son.

Paul’s Letter to Philemon (the shortest of his letters) is unique in the Bible. It has a very personal touch because it focuses on Onesimus, a slave who had run away from Philemon and Apphia. Evidently, Onesimus met Paul and was baptized by him. Paul felt that he must eventually send this slave back to his rightful owners, who could have him killed for running away.

Onesimus, however, brought Philemon and Apphia a letter from Paul. He gently requested mercy for the slave and encouraged Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a Christian brother, rather than as a slave (verse 15).

No records exist about how Philemon and Apphia dealt with Onesimus upon his return. Many claim he was treated with the respect that Paul had proposed. He and Tychicus brought Paul’s letter to the Colossians (4:7-9). Because Colossae was only about 10 miles from Laodicea and because Paul asked for a sharing of letters, Philemon and Apphia may well have known Nympha and shared experiences about offering their homes to be used as churches.

Other House Churches?

So many details are missing: How big were their homes? How were they arranged for worship? How often did Christians meet in these homes? Did they get much help? How did they organize their gatherings? What were their families like? What other people and cities had house churches not mentioned in the Bible?

While the New Testament offers only slight clues about the function of house churches and their owners, there is still much to ponder. Because the references to these house churches are so brief and seemingly incidental, it is probable that there were other house churches not cited in Scripture.

The fleeting references we have reflect a generous spirit. The selfless giving of these house church providers gave Christianity the opportunity to take root and grow. When Christianity became legal, its members started to construct buildings reserved exclusively for worship. Public buildings had the advantage of belonging to all the members equally.

House Church Spirit Lives On

In most places, due to the numbers of Catholics, house churches are no longer practical. But the same spirit of Christian generosity that prompted the New Testament’s house churches is alive. People offer their homes for prayer groups, Bible study groups, RENEW groups or faith-sharing groups, or for home Masses, worship, catechetical instruction or retreats.

The small Christian community movement, which began in the 1960s in Latin America, updates the idea of the early house churches. Now small communities of Catholics in the United States and around the world are often led by women. These small groups are trying to connect faith and daily life in ways that can have a profound ripple effect that nurtures Christ’s Church in a powerful way for generations.

Mary of Jerusalem, Lydia, Nympha, Prisca and Aquila, Philemon and Apphia are strong role models for generous dedication to Christ and the faithful building up of his Church.

By virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This author offers practical ways we can cultivate them in our everyday lives. 

In Baptism and Confirmation, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As we put those gifts to good use, they manifest as the “fruits of the Holy Spirit” in our attitudes and behaviors. What exactly are those fruits? And how can we live them better? 

We read about the fruits of the Holy Spirit in St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22–23). This article reviews these nine scriptural fruits of the Holy Spirit and examines how to cultivate them. 

But first, a caveat. Fruit is the result of growth and our increasing awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It takes cooperation, not determination; openness, not resolve. For the Holy Spirit to work in us, we must learn to hear that still, small voice. As the psalmist reminds us, “Be still and know that I am God!” (46:11). 

With that in mind, let’s look at each fruit of the Spirit. 

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” —John 13:34–35 

This love is not the heartwarming feeling you get snuggling with your child or spending time with your spouse. In fact, it’s not a feeling at all. It’s an action: the ability to put others’ needs before our own. One of my favorite hymns is “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” That should be our goal. Our love for God spills out to others as God loves them through us. 

So how do we grow in our capacity to love in this profound way? Volunteering is one approach. Be a greeter at church, stack shelves at the food pantry, serve at your local soup kitchen, visit a lonely nursing home resident, or wash towels for an animal shelter. No matter where you live or what your situation might be, there is always an opportunity to help someone else. As you come to know your gifts and your community more clearly, you will come up with more ways to help. It’s one of the best ways to grow in unselfish concern for others. 

Joy

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” —John 15:11 

Joy is not just temporary pleasure but an enduring interior contentment that isn’t shaken by the circumstances around us. It doesn’t come from the world. No amount of money, possessions, health, or relationships can bring this profound happiness. Joy sees the world as God intended; it is a reaction to all God is doing in our lives now and in the future. It is a choice we make based on the knowledge that God loves us and is with us through all our life experiences. 

One simple way to increase joy is to smile more. You may feel awkward at first, but it works. Start by imagining yourself smiling happily, like a child playing on a swing set or jumping in the ocean waves. Then practice it in the mirror—a great big toothy grin. A genuine smile involves the eyes and the mouth. It releases stress-lowering neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine into the bloodstream. This means that smiling begets more smiling. It reminds us that there is still joy in life. 

Peace

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” —John 14:27 

Peace is a sense of harmony, inner tranquility, and calm reliance on and trust in God. In the modern world, peace can seem hard to come by. We are continually bombarded with news that causes fear and anxiety. Wars, storms, forest fires—there is no end to the number of things we can worry about. We end up feeling scattered and distracted. But Jesus reminds us that peace isn’t found in the world. 

So how do we find this elusive peace? One way is to disconnect from technology for part of every day. Start with a half hour. Turn off the cell phone, computer, and TV—no news, no calls, no message notifications, no multitasking, no Internet games to pass the time. Try deep breathing, praying, taking a walk outside, whatever helps most to give your brain a break. Ask the Holy Spirit to bless your time so you can hear God’s voice. Remind your ego that the world will be fine if you are detached from it for a little while. 

“Whoever is patient has great understanding, but the one who is quick-tempered displays folly.” —Proverbs 14:29, NIV 

Merriam-Webster defines being patient as “bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint.” Remarks like, “The person in the checkout line took forever!” and “Our waitress was so slow!” permeate everyday life. Patience requires that we ignore our own schedule and trust God’s instead. It allows us to consider new ways of viewing our experiences. The long wait in the grocery line gives me a chance to notice the delightful flower display at the front of the store. The harried waitress’ plight offers me an opportunity to reach out with a compassionate smile. 

Becoming patient takes practice and time. Try the “bell” exercise. Sit in a quiet, comfortable spot. Use a singing bowl or bell to make a tone and focus on the sound as it gradually diminishes. Sit as still as you can until it stops completely.  

Gradually ring the bell louder to maintain the note longer. Set a timer if you don’t have a bell or singing bowl. Start with 30 seconds, and don’t move during that time. If your nose runs, let it. If you have an itch, acknowledge it, but don’t scratch it. At first, you may have to distract yourself, but as you improve, you will be able to focus on the waiting. 

Kindness

“Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.” —Philippians 4:5 

At the root of kindness is compassion—the ability to suffer with others. When we learn to pay attention to others enough to suffer with them, we can anticipate their needs and reach out with a helpful and thoughtful mindset. Sometimes, we’re just too busy, and opportunities are missed. 

One way to grow in kindness is to help one person every day. The gesture can be simple, like a sincere compliment or a cup of coffee. You can offer to listen to a friend having a tough time or help a colleague brainstorm a project. You can perform greater acts of kindness when you have more time and energy and smaller ones on your own challenging days. It gets easier as you get into the habit of paying attention. 

“Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.” —Luke 6:30 

Like all fruits of the spirit, generosity is not something we can accomplish on our own. It is the capacity to give liberally, above and beyond what is expected or owed. It has nothing to do with the size of the gift but more with our readiness to give. Generosity recognizes that everything we have comes from God. 

All too often, we give from our surplus. We donate the money left over at the end of the month to charity. We clean our closets and drop off the stuff we don’t want at Goodwill. Cultivating generosity involves learning how to give more than our leftovers. It’s a radical idea in a world that teaches us to value stuff above all else. 

Practicing is the only way to become generous. Plan to give something away each week. It can be time, talent, or treasure and may hurt at first. That’s good! Over time, it will get easier, and you will develop a sense of abundance. 

Faithfulness

“For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” —2 Timothy 4:6–7 

Faithfulness can have two meanings. In one sense, it refers to faithfulness in our relationship with God. We believe in him, are faithful to his commandments, and do our best with whatever he asks us. It also refers to our relationships with others. We are consistent, dependable, and trustworthy; we keep our promises and commitments. Faithfulness is loyalty to God and others. 

Sometimes we have trouble seeing ourselves as dependable, and when we fail at it, we give up trying. A daily affirmation practice can help reorient our thoughts to more positive ones. Throughout the day, each time you look in a mirror, say, “God is reliable and faithful to me. I am reliable and faithful to others.” 

Gentleness

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.” —Matthew 5:5 

Gentle is another word for meek. It refers to the ability to respond mildly, tenderly, and humbly. Some people incorrectly interpret it as weakness or submissiveness, but that is not the case. Being gentle takes great strength, but it is strength used to help others, not to lord over them. Jesus was the epitome of gentleness. Fully God and, therefore, fully capable of destroying his enemies, he did not. He spoke with mercy and forgiveness to even the worst sinners. 

It’s easy to respond to others in a harsh or angry way when we are tense or anxious. Gentleness requires calm. One way to grow calm is with a technique called the body scan. Sit (or lie) in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, fully expanding your chest. (It might take a few tries to relax enough to do that). Then, starting with your feet and slowly moving up, breathe in, and on the exhale, consciously soften each part of your body: feet, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, buttocks, low back, abdomen, upper back, chest, shoulders, neck, face, and scalp. Be sure to soften your shoulders, loosen your neck, and unclench your jaw. If your body is relaxed, your reactions to others will be too. 

Self-Control

“For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” —2 Timothy 1:7 

Self-control invites moderation and self-mastery. It is the ability to say no when we want to say yes, and to see the results of our choices ahead of time so that we can avoid those who cause harm to ourselves or others. We face hundreds of options daily, whether with food, exercise, relationships, or leisure activities. We don’t always make good choices in times of temptation or frustration. It’s not helpful to lash out if my coworker makes me angry. It is much more productive to step away and return after I calm down. 

The first step in self-control is self-awareness. Learn to check in with yourself throughout the day. Alcoholics Anonymous recommends asking, “Am I hungry, angry, lonely, or tired?” At these times, we are more likely to succumb to temptation. Learn to recognize the physical signs of these states in your own body. Am I cracking my knuckles or am I fidgety? Recognizing your mood allows you to remove yourself from a tense or tempting situation before you make a bad decision. 

We can’t make these changes overnight. But we can practice over a lifetime and nurture the fruits of God’s gifts within us. As we do, our reactions and behaviors will preach the Gospel to a world that needs it. We will live a fruitful life.

In modern-day Hadera, an Israeli city near Haifa, the Center for Social Equality offers a course on video production for Arabic and Jewish women. The women are various ages and come from many different backgrounds and domestic situations. They discuss the meaning of sabaya, which one of the Arabic-speaking women calls their group. If pronounced with a Hebrew accent, it can mean prisoners of war; pronounced with an Arabic accent, sabaya means a group of young women, “just like them.” When the center’s director announces that the class will be in Hebrew because everyone understands Hebrew but not everyone understands Arabic, the stage is set for conflict. 

Rona (Dana Ivgy), a film director, commutes from Tel Aviv to teach the class about framing, lighting, and even directing. Each student receives a video camera to film scenes from her own life. As the weeks go by, the women drop the facades that “everything is fine” and begin to reveal their personal struggles as mothers, wives, or single women. Conflict arises within the group, not because of their differences, but because of what they see as the instructor’s deception about her motivations for the class. 

Cinema Sabaya, available in theaters, is a unique film about empowering women through the art of self-reflective storytelling. You will wonder, as the students do, if this is a documentary or not—the film’s only conceit. There are layers in the story about women who are prisoners in their own lives for one reason or another.  

Writer/director Orit Fouks Rotem draws from her own experiences as a teacher in this moving story of women who, against the odds, become friends. Souad (Joanna Said), a young Muslim mother of six in an arranged marriage, makes an inner and outer journey of freedom. Her story evokes compassion as much as her behavior in the group shocks the women.  

The power of art to transform lives is convincingly evident in Cinema Sabaya. By the time we get to the passionately wrought ending, they are each able to live more freely and move forward. Cinema Sabaya is a parable about our common humanity and for people and communities who live in conflict. 

Not yet rated • Some language, implicit domestic violence.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro’s latest project, available on Netflix, is a stop-motion, animated musical and dark parable about war, fascism, death, life, and religion—specifically Catholicism. With superb visual and aural craftsmanship, and stunning cinematography, this retelling of author Carlo Collodi’s 1883 beloved The Adventures of Pinocchio is no Disney knockoff. 

The film opens with Master Geppetto (voice of David Bradley) and his beloved son, Carlo (Gregory Mann), restoring the hand-carved wood crucifix of the village church. But after World War I begins, Carlo is killed by a bomb. Geppetto plants a pine cone that Carlo had given him near his son’s grave. A talking bug, Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), takes up residence in the tree that grows there in the years leading up to World War II. Geppetto is consumed by grief. While drunk, he cuts down the tree to make a new son out of wood. When he passes out, a Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) brings the carving to life, naming it Pinocchio. The appearance of Pinocchio (again Gregory Mann) and his antics terrify the village, and Geppetto is shocked to learn his carving is alive. He locks Pinocchio in a closet while he goes to Mass, but the puppet follows the older man. The next day, Geppetto sends him to school, but Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) tries to hire Pinocchio for the circus. 

There are several images of Christ and references to redemptive love, death, suffering, and life everlasting. Of course, the film is open to many interpretations, but there is no denying its elegant and sometimes terrible beauty. 

Not yet rated, PG • Animated violence, peril, war. 

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical

Based on the 1988 novel by Roald Dahl, this new film version is fun to watch. Available on Netflix, it’s about an improbably sweet girl who develops a superpower, telekinesis, to add to her sense of fairness, intelligence, and kindness. Matilda (Alisha Weir) is born to dim and selfish parents who refuse to let her go to school. Despite this, Matilda becomes an avid reader. When the authorities decide she must go to school, Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch) suggests Crunchem Hall, where she teaches. 

Once enrolled, Matilda runs up against the headmistress, the terrible Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson), whose cruelty borders on brutality and threatens the minds, hearts, and even the lives of the children. But Matilda uses her superpower to help win the day for the good of all. Matilda the Musical is a delightful revolt against parental, institutional, and educational tyranny. It is a celebration of girl power. 

Not yet rated, PG • Child abuse, bullying by adults, some language.

In the past 10 years, Pope Francis has been both celebrated and vilified. But he remains on task for reforming the Catholic Church.

On May 11, 2019, a man you have probably never heard of, Konrad Krajewski, climbed down a manhole and walked through the sewers of Rome to restore the power supply to a disused, Italian state-owned property where many homeless persons had been living. He explained: “I intervened personally last night to turn back on the meters. It was a desperate gesture. There were over 400 people without electricity, families with children.” 

Is Krajewski some sort of Marvel superhero wannabe? No, he is the almoner of the Office of Papal Charities, the man in charge of overseeing the works of mercy on behalf of the Holy Father. He is also, for the first time in the Church’s history, an almoner who has been raised to the office of cardinal. But instead of the red silk, lace, and finery we often associate with this office, he works among and for the least of these. In addition to crawling through sewers to help the poor, he has also been sent into active war zones in Ukraine to bring relief to the miserable, as well as doing many other unglamorous things for those on the margins. 

And that is a fitting image to summarize the implementation of the Church’s teaching that is being attempted by one of the most striking, creative, and remarkable popes in history: Pope Francis. 

A New Approach

Pope Francis’ election in March 2013 immediately signaled a new approach to the ancient faith with an emphasis on being doers of the word and not merely hearers. Despite complaints of critics that he is “confusing,” the reality is that his entire papacy has been remarkably consistent and can easily be summed up by a single passage of Scripture: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18). Understand this, and you understand the entire pontificate of Pope Francis: He is about evangelization and care for the least ones. 

His regnal name was the first clue. Like so much else in his pontificate, it reaches back into the treasury of the Church’s tradition and deploys it in a new way to bring good news to the poor. Rather than take a previous papal name, he took the name of a saint famous for his disdain of mammon, his eagerness to care for those nobody else cared about, and his zeal for preaching the Gospel to anybody who would listen—even birds! 

Pope Francis’ appearance on the balcony over St. Peter’s Square, shorn of all papal finery except his simple white cassock, was another sign of things to come, for both good and ill. Reactionaries who literally deny the reality of the Holocaust attacked him online within minutes of his election, establishing a pattern that continues to this day. 

But Pope Francis has continued his mission to make the Church a “poor Church for the poor” and a Church of active, energetic evangelization through deeds as much as, or more than, words. No small part of this comes directly from his background. Having spent years working and living among the desperately poor in Argentina, as well as under a brutal dictatorship, Pope Francis has seen firsthand not only the oppression of the poor, but also how the policies of industrialized nations have affected politics in developing nations. He has looked down the gun barrel from the receiving end and knows where glib rhetoric about trickle-down economies and neofascist strongman chatter lead. 

Pope Francis has also experienced the joy and generosity the Gospel inspires among those who often have the least to share in terms of material goods. One of his earliest letters was “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), in which he frankly called the Church out on our perennial habit of navel-gazing and mutually destructive squabbles over liturgical niceties, money, and power, and back to its primal mission of bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Moreover, he insisted that such witness be a matter not merely of words but also of lives lived sacrificially for marginalized people.  

He warned of “those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying (94).” 

And he has lived this out. Rather than guard a fortress or curate a museum, Pope Francis has left the fortress with gusto and gone out into the highways and byways to bring the love of Christ to those on the margins. He has embraced all sorts of people in the disenfranchised corners of humanity, washing the feet of prisoners, eating supper with the homeless, and serving people in need. His willingness to welcome, eat with, visit, and listen to the vast diversity of the human race has, as with Jesus, both provoked appreciation and fired intense dislike. 

Controversy in the Amazon

One of the flash points for this pastoral style came in the autumn of 2019, when the pope welcomed Catholics from the Amazon Basin to a synod to address their pastoral needs. Here were brother and sister Catholics, seeking the sacraments and priestly care in a region so remote they were lucky to celebrate Mass once every several years in some areas. In addition, many of them were facing both murder and land theft at the hands of the wealthy who were working hand in glove with the state in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. 

But all Pope Francis’ detractors could see was a small statuette, made in the custom of local folk art and dedicated to Our Lady of the Amazon. This they declared an “idol,” the fellow Catholics who brought it “idolators,” and the pope a heretic for welcoming them and their gift. A man with ties to an Austrian nationalist group founded by a Nazi threw the statuette in the Tiber, where it was fetched and restored to its rightful place in a church near the Vatican. 

The incident was played up as a triumph of Catholic orthodoxy versus “pagan papal heresy” in the reactionary Catholic press in the Anglosphere, but, in fact, what occurred was a racist act of aggression against fellow Catholics whose only sin was being brown, dirt poor, and possessed of a non-European artistic style. 

The Common Good

Pope Francis’ tendency to place moral and economic justice concerns over aesthetic ones is on constant display in his pontificate. This is not to say that he opposes beauty or reverence in Catholic worship; it is merely to note that he does not prioritize European aesthetics over people’s needs. He shows a marked preference for the beauty of holiness over the holiness of beauty whenever the two are made to artificially conflict because he sees goodness and beauty in harmony, not in competition. 

He chose to eschew, for instance, the comforts of the Apostolic Palace and instead has taken up residence in Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he celebrates morning Mass and takes communal meals. He explained: “The residence in the Apostolic Palace . . . is large, but the entrance is narrow. Only one person at a time can get in, and I cannot live alone. I must live my life with others.” 

The pope’s drive to be in community and emphasize the common good is also evident in his approach to the social teaching of the Church, as D.W. Lafferty, of the website WherePeterIs.com, notes: “From early in his pontificate, Pope Francis has been signaling a change in the Church’s approach to life issues. He rightly sees the threats of economic inequality, nuclear war, environmental collapse, global pandemics, etc., as life issues alongside abortion and euthanasia.” 

This, far from being a break with Catholic moral and social teaching, is a reaffirmation of it. The Church teaches a consistent life ethic that emphasizes the sanctity and flourishing of human life from conception to natural death, with a view to our eternal destiny in Christ. Pope Francis consistently sees the unborn as related to, not the opposite of, all the other forms of human life that are threatened and degraded by sin. 

Failure and Success

Pope Francis has grown in his understanding that—in the words of the Second Vatican Council—“Man is the only creature on earth whom God has willed for his own sake.” Sometimes he has failed, perhaps most egregiously when, in early 2018, he rebuked Chilean survivors of sexual abuse as slanderers before grasping the reality that they were right and their abusers were liars. 

But he soon apologized for his sin, declaring: “I was part of the problem. I caused this, and I apologize to you.” In 2019, he abolished “pontifical secrecy” for cases of sex abuse, and in 2021 he updated canon law on the subject, explicitly criminalizing sexual exploitation of adults by priests and making it a crime to fail to report abuse. He has met with survivors personally. He called for an annual audit of what is being done globally and where the Church needs to improve. 

But there remains too much of a culture of secrecy, too much bending or ignoring the rules, and a tendency to clericalism that has blunted his actions against certain figures. Like many clerics of his generation, his learning curve has been real, but sometimes painfully slow. 

On other fronts Pope Francis has performed better, understanding that human beings cannot be subordinated to human systems and ideologies, whether political, military, scientific, philosophical, or economic. He sees clearly that human beings depend on certain material needs such as food, water, shelter, and sufficient means to not only stay alive, but also to flourish as God intends. In encyclicals such as “Laudato Si’” and “Fratelli Tutti,” he stresses our interdependence with one another and with the rest of the created order. He understands that climate change will impact the lives of billions of people and that the ones who suffer the most will be, as ever, the poorest and most marginalized. Calling this “earth worship,” as his detractors have done, is to radically distort Catholic teaching about our responsibility to care for the garden of creation as we have been called to do ever since Genesis chapter 2. 

Interdependence is a constant theme for Pope Francis because it is a constant theme of the Gospel. Indeed, in Catholic theology, our interdependence is only increased by our Baptism. In nature, human beings are social animals. But in Christ, we are more. We are members—body parts—of one another (Rom 12:3–5). 

This impacts not only his emphasis on matters such as care for our common home, but also his approach to evangelization and how to order our common life in the Church. For instance, Pope Francis draws a sharp distinction between evangelization and proselytism. He declares: “Evangelization is free! Proselytism, on the other hand, makes you lose your freedom. Proselytism is incapable of creating a religious path in freedom. It always sees people being subjugated in one way or another. In evangelization the protagonist is God; in proselytism it is the I.” 

‘The Poor Evangelize Us’ 

Unsurprisingly, this vision of evangelization, which is deeply Catholic, is also intensely opposed by his detractors, who have attempted to claim that this most evangelistic of Catholics opposes evangelization. But what he opposes is the attempt to muscle the conscience by force or to substitute for the faith the personal and political domination of others (as, for instance, in the growing push for “Christian nationalism”). The assent to faith in Jesus Christ must be a free act of conscience rooted in the power and love of the Holy Spirit, not in force, fear, domination, or conquest. 

Pope Francis does not share the all-too-common view of evangelization as a thing done by some power figure to a passive patient or, worse, by a conqueror to the conquered. On the contrary, he insists that we should be aware of our own need to be evangelized, and often by the people we are condescending to help: “The poor, always and everywhere, evangelize us, because they enable us to discover in new ways the true face of the Father. They have much to teach us. Besides participating in the sensus fidei, they know the suffering Christ through their own sufferings. It is necessary that we all let ourselves be evangelized by them” (Pope Francis’ message for the Fifth World Day of the Poor, November 14, 2021). 

This is a view of the body of Christ that makes authoritarians very nervous, but it informs a great deal of Pope Francis’ approach to governance as well as evangelization. His belief in the sensus fidei—the “sense of the faithful” and of the contributions all members of the body of Christ make to discerning the will of God—is what has fueled his insistence on synodality. 

His critics, fearful that he will eliminate the magisterium and turn the Church into a democracy, fail to grasp that the oldest continually functioning democratic institution on earth is the Dominican Order, which uses consensus and voting to discern the will of God and order its common life. That is what Pope Francis seeks, precisely because clericalism deafens the Church to the gifts the Spirit has given to all the baptized. 

For instance, the pope says: “Women must be entrusted with greater positions and responsibilities. Many calamitous decisions might have been avoided, had a woman been directly involved in decision-making! We are committed to ensuring women are increasingly respected, acknowledged, and involved!” 

This, far from being a demand for women’s ordination, is simply common sense. Women participate in the kingly and prophetic offices of Christ through their Baptism, functioning as presidents, senators, queens, CEOs, teachers, generals, and every other leadership position. 

Giving people with knowledge, expertise, and wisdom greater participation and leadership in decisions and institutional policies is what any competent leader does. 

A Good Shepherd 

The pontificate of Pope Francis, rooted in tradition, oriented toward the poor, intensely evangelistic, seeks to discern the voice of the Good Shepherd in the whole people of God. It is very much a work in progress and one which will—as Jesus did—continue to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable as the Gospel has always done. 

May God continue to guide this good shepherd.

Read: From Argentina to the World

When we are aware of the beauty and loving interactions in our lives, we are actually recognizing the Trinity.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” When we begin our prayer with the Sign of the Cross, we are calling to mind one of the core beliefs of the Christian faith: that God is one, and God is three.

We invoke the Trinity often in prayer and liturgy. We pray the Glory Be at the end of every decade of the rosary. We were baptized in the name of the Trinity. We profess our faith in the Trinity each time we recite the Nicene Creed. At the end of Mass, we are blessed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As often as we call upon the Trinity, however, our understanding of it is sketchy at best. Think about the homilies we hear on Trinity Sunday. Typically the homilist begins by saying something like this: “The Trinity is a mystery, beyond our understanding. We just have to accept it and believe in it.”

I’m not faulting homilists; it’s a challenge to translate concepts from the fourth century like consubstantiality, begetting, and proceeding into language that we in the pews can grasp. But there is a much more accessible way of understanding the Trinity—through the lens of our everyday experience.

Create, Redeem, Inspire, and Love

The transcendent, infinite God is beyond our comprehension—but we can come to know about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by what they do—in us, through us, and among us.  Experiences of the Trinity are all around us.

Take God the Father, whom we affirm as creator. Think about the creativity we experience every day: a serene, glorious sunrise; the flowers and vegetables we cultivate in our gardens; the book so compelling that we can’t put it down; the statue we stop to admire; the meal lovingly prepared; the love between spouses that brings children into the world.

Creativity is all around us. It is the very creativity of God the Father. We profess God the Son to be the redeemer. But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is no longer with us in the flesh.

The ongoing work of redemption is entrusted to us, his disciples. We are presented with opportunities to redeem and be redeemed every day. We restore relationships and build the unity Jesus called for whenever we forgive someone who has hurt us. The one who listens with empathy to a grieving friend is helping to redeem them from the pain and isolation of their loss.

A counselor can bring healing to a broken marriage. A program, a mentor, or a support group can lead to redemption from addiction. We do the redemptive work of peacemaking when we resolve conflicts without raised voices or harsh words. We help heal the open wound of racism when we learn to think and act in anti-racist ways. Our acts of charity and justice help to bring redemption to persons suffering from poverty and prejudice.

We believe God the Holy Spirit to be our advocate, the one who inspires and guides us on our journey of faith. But we don’t have to be at Mass or deep in prayer to be moved by the Spirit. We can be inspired by the words of a great orator or homilist. We are enthralled by our favorite novelist. Our spirits soar when we hear the music of a great composer or songwriter. We are moved by the selflessness of a fellow parishioner, or called to action by the example of a neighbor or friend.

We believe the Trinity is three distinct persons, but we also affirm the Trinity as a community of persons united in their unshakable, passionate love for each other. We experience that kind of intimate unity with a beloved spouse, in the bonds of love within families and religious congregations, in the sense of community at the celebration of the Eucharist, and in the social contract of mutual rights and responsibilities that is the ideal upon which the American experiment is based.

Knowing God

In a talk I presented about the theology of the Trinity as it came to be formulated in the Nicene Creed, I tried to make sense of consubstantiality, begetting in eternity, and the divine procession. I hope the folks who attended didn’t leave in a greater state of confusion than when they came. A theological, ontological grasp of the Trinity—an understanding of the Trinity in itself—is difficult but important. The mystery of the Trinity—the God who is one and three—is central to our Christian faith.

But there’s another way to come to know about the Trinitarian God: through our everyday experiences of creativity, redemption, inspiration, and community. Our knowledge of God is more immediate and tangible when we experience God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in this way—when we come to know who God is by what God does.