The New Wine Press vol 25 no 7 March 2017 | Page 4

Editor’ s Notes

Disrupt and Rebuild by Fr. Richard Bayuk, c. pp. s., Publications Editor

“ Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”- Yoda, Jedi Master
There’ s a lot of disagreement and division in our country today, and thus a lot of anger— even rage. Our country is painfully divided, as are many families. I’ m old enough to remember the last time it felt this way( albeit for different reasons): 1968— two assassinations, an increasingly unpopular war, an extremely close and divisive presidential election; significant division in the Catholic Church with the publication of Humanae Vitae— in addition to the continuing struggle to implement the changes brought about by Vatican ii. I remember the anger well, because it was part of me also, in the realm of both politics and the Church. Opposition to the war impacted churches, and religious leaders— including Catholic bishops— who struggled with the ability to navigate during that turbulence. The president at the time, Lyndon Johnson, was known for using the biblical quote,“ Come, let us reason together.” But that was not to be, as in the end he failed to do so and so did the country. There was to be no significant reasoning together in the country, or in the Church. And so both, in my opinion, paid a huge price for anger. And it can happen again.
The current occupant of the White House has never been known to invite“ reasoning together.” After a long and often ugly campaign, he lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College. Many people experienced a lot of his rhetoric as fostering division and appealing to some of the darker impulses of human nature, such as fear or bigotry or selfishness. But now he is the president and is choosing to lead in his own way. A way that many take exception to and find hard to respond to positively, especially if they feel overwhelmed by what is about to be dismantled in this country, and what is about to be taken away from people already struggling to get by.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has captured the imagination of many people, in and outside of the Church. But there are those who see him as too liberal, too willing to soften some hard doctrinal positions, even politically too“ Marxist.” There is division in the Church on many levels, and bishops, pastors, and lay leaders struggle with how to lead in the midst of it— and how to respond to the implications of what our political leaders are saying and doing and proposing. So I would like to focus on the welcome leadership that one particular Catholic bishop has exhibited.
The U. S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements was held in Modesto, California on February 16 th-18 th. The conference was organized with the support of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and the pico( People Improving Communities through Organizing) National Network.
2 • The New Wine Press • March 2017