McGrath Institute Blog

I think that, if we’re lucky in this life, we’ll get to come across perhaps three or four really really good ponds. This story begins with one such pond: a koi pond at Balboa Park in San Diego. This particularly good pond was something that I happened upon while ambling around the park one sunny June afternoon in the company of someone I dearly love. We weren’t alone in thinking it the perfect day to take advantage of such a treasure: there were dog-walkers and stroller-pushers, families and friends, couples old and young. Loveliness seemed to flutter all around this large pond, gently begging us to lend our attentiveness.

Since beginning my work as a high school theology teacher, I have had the privilege and burden of seeking to discover Christ in the places I inhabit, and the eyes of those I teach. It did not take long for me to realize that this is easier said than done! Acknowledging my struggle to recognize God’s presence in my daily life, I decided to take up a spiritual practice to ground my day. I started praying the Liturgy of the Hours—specifically Morning and Night Prayer—and quickly found myself immersed in the Psalms. 

We often strive for money, power, and praise without realizing that what we really desire is God. In the synoptic Gospels, a rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to share in eternal life. Jesus answered that he should give his wealth to the poor and follow him. The man went away sad because he was attached to his possessions and could not put others before them. Jesus said: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (see Matthew 19:16–24; Mark 10:17–25; Luke 18:18–25). 

If you are like me, the news of Jean Vanier’s abuse and manipulation of six women receiving spiritual direction was a gut-wrenching combination of disappointment, disillusionment, and disgust.

In the face of seemingly endless iterations of scandal in the Church, there was at least Jean Vanier. He was one of the beacons of hope and renewal and reform, a layman who had succeeded in creating, in L’Arche, a new form of communion and evangelization. A real lay leader in the Church. Someone whom we thought of as a harbinger of the ideals of “co-responsibility for the being and acting of the Church,” to use Pope Benedict’s words.

Here was hope for a new vision of leadership in the Church. But even this hope was dashed. Back to the drawing board. Find another beacon of hope and harbinger of renewal. But we’re running out! I thought. Where do we go from here?

I spoke at a recent “Theology on Tap” event for my parish, reflecting on Pope Francis’ 2018 World Communications Day address, “The Truth Will Set You Free: Fake News and Journalism for Peace.”

Pope Francis has called Catholics to find better ways to generate, consume, and spread the torrent of information found in mass media. This topic is evergreen, yielding endless opportunities for me to update such presentations, partly due to my deepening fears that respectful, inclusive, problem-solving conversations are disappearing in our polarized public square.