Respectfully Critiquing Pope Francis: Father Rutler's Example

The Spider and the Fly, by Ernest Griset from"Child life: a collection of poems" (1871)

I respect Father George W. Rutler’s tact and appropriately dutiful reverence to Pope Francis, since he often quotes the indisputable good things the pope says and does. He refers to the pope as His Holiness and never dismissively just as Bergoglio, as some of the pope's critics do. 

I also admire that Father Rutler has the nerve to point out the often ludicrous and just plain wrong things the pope and some of his closest cardinals are reported as saying and doing; but he does it without vitriol.

Here are two examples of articles that show his deft approach, from Crisis Magazine:

• Nothing new under the sun: St. Bernard’s advice to a pope
• A Nursery Rhyme Pope Francis Would Do Well to Read

I also think Father Rutler is courageous, because he, after all, is a diocesan pastor St. Michael the Archangel Church in New York city who could be called on the carpet by his superiors if his loyalty came into question.

Father Rutler appropriately writes his critiques and, from all accounts, lives his vocation in such a way that it would be impossible to dismiss him as a benighted traditionalist, and he is so generous in his ability to give credit where credit is due that it would be equally hard to label him an enemy of the pope, even though I’ve come across articles on the Internet that try to paint him that way.

Sometimes, the only way to deal with unpleasant realities is with humor and deflection, as is illustrated in this delicious piece I chanced upon: an article with Father Rutler writing as the Catholic Herald’s “resident agony priest.” (In case you don’t know, advice columnists used to be dubbed “agony aunts.”) In the “advice column,” Father Rutler gave a serious answer with a funny twist, in answer to the question, “What should I do when my family trash-talks the Pope?” Consider this excerpt, which has a bit of both, humor, and deflection (dated 20 December, 2018):

Dear Father Rutler,Roger S. Reading, MA 

Pope Francis isn’t my favourite Vicar of Christ of the last couple of millennia, but I don’t like the way some of my friends and family trash-talk him. Should I say something? If so, how do I put it without sounding cloyingly pious?

The response:

With the best of intentions, people may forget that at the heart of piety is “reverence for the fathers”. That does not mean indulging the extravagant and unfounded notion that the Holy Spirit chooses each pope. It does mean that the Holy Spirit can pick up the pieces of whatever mere mortals may break, and it also means taking seriously the prayers at Mass for a pope. Our Lord had the most righteous anger, but our anger may not always be altogether righteous, losing temper rather than using it. Arguments about such things usually are cathartic rather than constructive. If friends and family rant, just quietly ask: “When the apostles remembered Psalm 69:9 about being consumed by zeal, what do you think was meant by the Septuagint’s use of katesthio?” If that doesn’t silence them, gently ask, “Do you want to be Shem and Japheth, or just Ham?” It is unlikely that they will continue the conversation.1

As is characteristic of Father Rutler’s style, we can see good advice almost subliminally embedded in his humorous reply to the question, words that show the kind of actions a frustrated Catholic should take. First of all, the commandment to honor our fathers still stands (and it does not have the exception clause “unless we think they don’t deserve it”), and we owe reverence to our Holy Father. Second, it is important to understand on the one hand that not everything a pope does is willed by the Holy Spirit, even though some of the current pope’s supporters claim otherwise, and to remember, on the other hand, that nothing can be broken by any man that cannot be fixed by God. Third, we must pray for the Pope, and, fourth, we must restrain our tendency to anger when we hear of things that outrage us, because often times such anger is merely self-righteousness rather than constructive. And, finally, if people don’t agree with you, you can always stop them in their tracks by pelting them with your erudition.

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This is a modified excerpt from "Fr. George Rutler’s Calm in Chaos: Catholic Wisdom for Anxious Times A Review Essay,"  published at Homiletic and Pastoral Review on February 12, 2019.