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Symposium discusses how the First Non-European Pope brings the poor and marginalized to the attention of the world
“It’s been a good year for Argentines. The Queen of the Netherlands is Argentinian; Messi is said to be the best soccer player in the world; and now el Papa es Francisco,” said Anna Bonta Moreland—born in Argentina and now Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities at Villanova University—to an audience of over 250 in Mandel Hall at the University of Chicago.
Moreland spoke at a symposium sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Center for Latin American Studies on “Pope Francis: First Pope from The Americas,” along with Fr. Brian Daley, S.J., Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, and R.R. Reno, editor of the ecumenical journal First Things.
The South American hemisphere has indeed received a great deal of attention since the March 13th election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the first Pope outside of Europe.
“Argentine jokes immediately began to fly,” Moreland said.
“It’s already evident that this Pope is a very humble man,” said one of Moreland’s friends upon hearing the news that Bergoglio would be Pope Francis, “because any other Argentine would have chosen Jesus II as his name.”
But perhaps what has most captured the world’s attention about the charismatic Pope from Latin America is his “acute sense of responsibility toward the poor and vulnerable among us.”
Moreland shared how as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio talked and ate with the inhabitants of the slums and shanty towns at the margins of the city. When a young priest asked him if he should wear a cassock, Bergoglio responded, “the question is not whether you put it on, it’s whether you are willing to roll up your sleeves for others.”
Championing a theology of encounter, Pope Francis has urged the contented and complacent to reach outside their comfort zone. When working with the poor, when coming face to face with any child of God, Francis has said: “If you don’t look them in the eyes, if you don’t touch them, you haven’t encountered them.”
Some could argue that Pope Francis’ concern for the poor flows from his Jesuit spirituality.
Fr. Brian Daley, S.J.—who was in Rome giving lectures at the Pontifical Oriental Institute when the bells of the Sistine Chapel announced that the Cardinals had reached a decision—said that he’s already participated in quite a few panels on Pope Francis, “because I am a Jesuit and people think…I have the answers. I don’t,” he laughed.
Francis—as befits his name—is known for his humility. “The Spiritual Exercises emphasizes humility as the central virtue of the Christian,” Daley said. “Self-emptying is central to the spirituality of Jesuits.”
Because he embraced a spirituality where one ought never to seek the glories of the world, Daley admitted that many of his fellow Jesuits were astonished to learn that Bergoglio had become pontiff. “Jesuits have always been brought up to believe there would never be a Jesuit Pope. To be bishop or Pope? That’s not what we do. Jesuits should refuse office—and only accept it by Holy obedience.”
Related in many ways to his Jesuit identity, Daley agreed that what has been most striking and unusual about Francis in the first months of his papacy is his “unstuffiness, his insistence on being a servant of the poor.”
During his years of ministry in Buenos Aires, his encounters with ordinary people transformed his way of thinking about himself.
One priest of the slums estimated that in eighteen years Bergoglio must have talked to half of the inhabitants of the shanty towns.
He would wander the alleyways, chat with the locals, drink maté with them.
“It is when we are involved with ministry that we discover who we are,” Bergoglio had said.
Such a mentality gave him a certain allergy to elitism, Daley said. He had a reputation for being anti-academic, for being suspicious of any kind of theorist who claimed to have all the answers to the ills of society. He disliked abstract ideologies that did not correspond to reality; he was wary of the modern way of constantly seeking out the experts. Being the archbishop of a large and sophisticated middle class city, he enjoyed reaching out to simple people.
Consequently, Bergoglio expressed his views to those who think that formulas can provide answers. Daley shared that when an economist from the United States travelled to Buenos Aires, met with Cardinal Bergoglio, and explained his profession, the Cardinal replied, “wouldn’t it be better if you were doing some kind of ministry?”
The American was stunned. What could the Cardinal have meant? Did he really think academic qualifications superfluous?
Though people are impressed by the Pope’s emphasis on a new set of priorities, his approach can initially be jarring. R.R. Reno—in the final presentation of the evening—reflected on the American response to the new Pope.
Reno maintained that Francis is truly speaking on behalf of the developing world. “He has never been to the United States. He is not U.S.-focused. He is concerned about development and poverty, problems that face the developing world—problems that face South America, Asia, and Africa.”
“It’s not about us,” Reno said simply.
Not only is Pope Francis highlighting a different set of concerns, he also belongs to a different generation. Whereas John Paul II and Benedict XVI were formed decisively by the great trauma of the twentieth century, World War II, Bergoglio came of age during the Dirty War of the 1970s where the battle lines weren’t as clear, where he could say amidst all the fighting on either side, “my ministry is to find good and make it increase.”
Reno agreed with both Moreland and Daley that the Argentine Pope has charmed the world with his unstuffiness, his simplicity. “He has a charism of immediacy, of presence,” Reno said. With Francis, you know that you are “not dealing with an American politician. With what is characteristic of Jesuit spirituality, he trusts himself to speak with integrity about the faith. He can focus on the one thing that his needful.”
“I seek Jesus; I serve Jesus because he sought me first, because I was conquered by Him. That is the heart of my experience.”
Jean Bethke Elshtain, an American ethicist, political philosopher, and public intellectual, died Sunday, August 11th after suffering from a debilitating heart condition. She was 72.
Elshtain, who was the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago where she also had appointments in Political Science and the Committee on International Relations, taught at the University of Chicago for 18 years.
Involved with the Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought at the University of Chicago since its founding and a frequent lecturer in its programs and conferences, Elshtain served on its Board of Directors from June 2008 until her death.
Noel Moore, Chairman of the Board of Directors, found her presence remarkable: “She was a great admirer and friend of the Church…and a longtime contributor to the Lumen Christi Institute and its Board. She possessed an extraordinary capacity for friendship, scholarship, and humility—combined with strength and courage. I am grateful to have known her and served with her.”
Renowned for her work on religious ethics, war, the family, feminist theory, democracy, and modern political thought, she “cared deeply about the common good, and she recognized that faith, family, and patriotic solidarity ennobled the lives of ordinary people,” wrote First Things Editor R. R. Reno.
Born in 1941 in a small town in Colorado, Elshtain earned her BA and MA from Colorado State University and a PhD from Brandeis University, writing her dissertation on “Women and Politics: A Theoretical Analysis.” She went on to teach at the University of Massachusetts and Vanderbilt University (where she was the first woman to hold an endowed professorship in the history of that institution) prior to coming to Chicago.
Her contribution to political philosophy was wide-ranging and substantive. Her most notable works were Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought; Meditations on Modern Political Thought; Women and War; Democracy on Trial; Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World; Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy; Augustine and the Limits of Politics; and Sovereignty: God, State, Self.
She was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served on the Boards of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and the National Humanities Center. On the Feast of All Souls, 2011, she was received into the Catholic Church.
In 2006, she delivered the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh, joining the ranks of such eminent Gifford lecturers as William James, Hannah Arendt, Karl Barth, and Reinhold Niebuhr. In 2011, she was honored with the Democracy Service Award, which had previously been bestowed on the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, and Vaclav Havel, among others.
In recognition of Professor Elshtain’s body of work, the University of Chicago Divinity School organized a series of four conferences between 2010-2013 under the title, “Jean Bethke Elshtain: The Engaged Mind.”
As mentioned above, Elshtain played a significant role in the life of the Institute. As early as 2002, she took part in a book symposium on “Traditional Religion and the Contemporary Mind: A Symposium in Honor of the Publication of Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier” with Leon Wieseltier, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., and David Novak.
She most recently participated in two major events: a symposium titled “God, Freedom, and Public Life” with Hans Joas, Martin Marty, and Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. on the occasion of the Cardinal’s publication of God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World and the Institute’s April 2013 conference on “Pacem in terris After 50 Years.” She attended and spoke at the latter despite weakness due to illness.
“Jean Bethke Elshtain was a scholar and a believer, a woman of deeply held principles,” said Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. of his longtime friend. “Her many academic accomplishments were integrated into her personal concerns for family, for the public life of women in society, for good and just government, for religion’s contribution to the common good. Her talent for friendship drew out the best in others, who began their acquaintance with respect that then progressed to love.”
Thomas Levergood, Executive Director of the Lumen Christi Institute, remarked: “As many have noted, Jean Bethke Elshtain was one of the remarkable Christian scholars of her generation. Drawn more and more into the Catholic tradition by her study of the thought of John Paul II, she had entered the Catholic Church intellectually years before her formal entry into the Church. Still, she remained ‘catholic’ in continuing to cherish Protestant thinkers such as Reinhold Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who had been and remained her teachers and, if one may say, her colleagues as well.”
Elshtain earned the respect of her fellow thinkers who appreciated her tenacious approach to academic inquiry balanced by an affable nature.
French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion said of his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago Divinity School: “Jean Bethke Elshtain had a tough-thinking mind and a friendly open heart, while most people—in the academy as well as outside it—are the reverse: weak in thought, hard in feelings. Her books on (just) war, gender and feminism, culture and democracy were not only able to raise the level of discourse, fuel fierce debate, and engage vigorously the most well-received idols of our days, but they also gave back to moral and political philosophy a renewed dignity as serious science.”
Her faith animated her scholarship, as well as her relationships.Marion explained: “Christian faith gave her enough certitude to display radicality in thinking, unlimited energy in interacting with interlocutors, colleagues and students, and an obviously deep and sincere friendship for all. In her presence, I was proud not only to teach and work with her in Swift Hall, but also to share the same creed.”
Given all the exposure you now have to unpredictable real-life situations, what are the common misconceptions that academics have about developmental and economic problems on the ground?
The most common misperception is the impression by certain academics that development work is mostly practice without theory and data verification. While there is much room for improvement, large-scale development work often has to present its theory of change and provide assessment of its work. The information collected covers many projects over decades of work by different agencies affecting hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries. I have seen a number of academic presentations based on work with only one or two communities and from which conclusions were drawn.
Very briefly, what were your impressions of the Moral Economy conference? Were you introduced to any new ideas? Did you meet people who inspired you to think about a problem in a different way?
I thought the best paper was presented by Cardinal George: it inspired me to think about the transcendent nature of humans created by God and how our human activities (including economic transactions) must not lose this transcendence.
You have said that you have three older sisters who didn’t go to college and that the Chinese way was to marry well. Given that in your background, opportunities for women were limited, what does it mean for you to be so involved in public life? What does it mean especially since many of the countries in which CRS functions, women have a limited societal voice or role?
The opportunities and success that I have enjoyed make me realize how important it is that EVERYONE has opportunities to flourish and to come into his or her full potential. There are all sorts of barriers and not just against women. While much progress has been made with respect to the progress of and equal treatment for women, girls and women are still not valued, not respected, not empowered in certain countries and cultures. But there are other obstacles that hold back the education and development of individuals: extreme poverty, stunting that diminishes intellectual development, conflicts that disrupt education, violence that compromises healthy brain development and cognitive functioning, under-estimation of people with mental disabilities or writing off of youths in gangs. I have now met many people, for different reasons, who are sidelined from reaching their potential. Education provides the key and access to knowledge, to opportunities, to livelihoods, to certain social standing in society, to the levers of change, and ultimately to a voice and a place in formal structures.
What are your thoughts about the role of laity in the Church given that you were one of the first lay members of the CRS Board prior to your assuming your current role as president and CEO?
I think all would agree that the invitation to lay members to the CRS board significantly expanded the breadth of professional experiences. These have included expertise in governance, audit, financial administration, investments, communication, law, administration of highly complex organizations such as universities and hospitals and approaches to problem-solving. The lay members also opened our eyes, minds and hearts to the immense needs of the world and the inspiring commitment of the Church to step up to these problems through aid, advocacy and solidarity. Laity and the clergy together comprise the Body of Christ who calls us to be His eyes, hands, and feet on earth, to bring His love and His bounty to everyone, to take care of each other and to remember that He is with us and in us. We all have our unique gifts to bring and our part to do. This is a big task and we need all hands on deck working shoulder to shoulder for the kingdom of God.
Lumen Christi brings the light of faith to young intellectuals and aspiring and current academics. What do you see as the relationship between intellectual formation and living the faith? Does it help to have an informed faith? How has your knowledge of the faith inspired you to help others? How does it sustain you?
Wow, that is a big question! In second grade, I learned my catechism and there was a set of answers I memorized about God from the abridged Chinese version of the Baltimore Catechism on mimeographed sheets. The answers have not changed, but what they mean to me, what they call me to do and why I believe have continuously deepened due to life experiences, interactions with people of faith and the intellectual tradition of the Church. Faith calls us to seek the truth in all its realms: physical, intellectual, relational, and spiritual. For me, the gift of the Church’s intellectual tradition is to put into words and therefore greater clarity of the transcendence, which I and perhaps everyone experiences but cannot name. I think as much as possible, our faith needs to grow with our level of intellectual maturation. Otherwise we would deploy a second grade or eighth grade level of understanding to the decisions and experiences of our lives in a highly complex world.