Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
“My political views are those of the Lord’s prayer.” That quote attributed to St. John Bosco pretty much sums it up for me, in terms of the United States and the Catholic Church. Am I loyal to the Magisterium? Yes. Do I think it’s my job to police members of the clergy, locally or up to and including Pope Francis I? No. I’m not that smart or educated. I struggle enough with obedience in my own life.
And so, I found it a bit humorous recently when in the space of twenty-four hours, I was challenged twice on my 
view of the Church’s relationship with women religious: that there’s always been friction; that friction helps smooth the rough ends of anything; and that women religious do and always have done many amazing things for those living on the margins financially, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.
One person who contacted me in essence said I was naïve, that there’s no room for conciliation and compromise today, only confrontation and combativeness. The other challenge came from an acquaintance who advised me I’m being “watched” because a few years ago at Your Daily Tripod I wrote an essay acknowledging some people’s frustration over the issue and advising prayer for the strength to remain faithful… which was about the same advice I gave the first person who contacted me.
The situation made me laugh a bit… and think of part of today’s lectionary Gospel reading from Matthew 10:
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
For the longer I’m at this, the more I understand that it’s not about loudly arguing with others about what my views may or may not be on any Church or secular political issue. It’s about bringing souls to the Kingdom in whatever way God chooses to use us and in my case, that way is in writing about the struggle in us all to love and believe. God provides the words and the grace; we provide the faith.
