There is a constant stream of condemnation these days coming from religious leaders because of society’s “opposition to our values.” More and more religious blogs, websites and pastoral letters decry “moral relativism” and “secularism.” While most of what they say may be true, I believe that simply pumping out condemnations of others is a cheap and easy way for designated spiritual leaders to feel good about themselves. If what is being said is true, then we need to look at how we have failed our culture as spiritual leaders and quit blaming those we are called to lead. Instead of asking “What’s wrong with you people?” I think we should be asking ourselves, “Why are we not convincing enough to change the culture? What’s wrong with our style of leadership? What is it about us that people won't listen to us? ” Jesus was right, “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light." (Luke 16:8)
Personally, I like to shift the focus from "them" to "me." “How can I improve my ability to influence this culture?” “How can I be more effective as a spiritual leader?” Why is what I am doing, and the way I am doing it, not working? Why am I not able to sell our values and convince people to buy into our message?
I have always been moved by the words of St. Gregory the Great who wrote the classic On Pastoral Care. “Although those who have no knowledge of the power of drugs shrink from presenting themselves as physicians of the flesh, there are those who are utterly ignorant of spiritual precepts but not afraid of professing themselves to be physicians of the heart.” What he is saying is this: if we claim to be serious spiritual leaders worth listening to, then we need to be able to deliver on those claims - we need to be spiritual leaders in fact, not just in name!
When I taught future priests over at Saint Meinrad Seminary, the next generation of spiritual leaders in the forefront of the Church, I told them, over and over again, that it is not good enough for them to be personally pious, they must be able to be effective as spiritual leaders if they are to influence today’s culture. In other words, it is not enough to make sure their parishioners to see golden light coming out of their rectories, they must be able to drive through their parishes and see golden light coming out of the homes of their parishioners.
Instead of tedious and grating condemnations and criticisms of our culture, I think it would be more helpful for those of us in church leadership to step back periodically and ask ourselves where we have failed that has allowed things to have gotten this bad. Why were we not able to influence the culture more effectively? If we supposedly have “the Truth,” why do people not listen to us? The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche may have some advice for us. “Let us stop thinking so much about punishing, criticizing and improving others. Instead, let us rather raise ourselves that much higher. Let us color our own example with ever more vividness.”
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
In the last 20 years, I have lectured at priest retreats, convocations and study days, usually a week at a time, in well over one hundred dioceses in ten countries. My topic is usually about the quality of our spiritual leadership and our need to get better at it.
Maybe our biggest
problem in the church today is not the sexual abuse scandal, but the failure of
religious leadership that led to that scandal and the absence of credible witnesses from our leadership in general. Maybe we need to remove the beams from our own eyes, so that we can see better to remove the splinters in the eyes of
those around us.
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