This was the question that my six year old friend, Sam, asked the other day. As readers of this blog know six-year old Sam has a habit of visiting “Uncle Jim” who lives next door with questions that parents like to refer to “Uncle Jim” when another parent is not available. We all know the “Ask your father.” or “Ask your mother.” avoidance response of our parents!
Sam’s questions frequently arise over something the teacher or the priest has said in her school. Sometimes the question arises out of her habit of reading the newspaper over her mom’s shoulder. She is quite proud of her ability to read The Tampa Tribune. She is especially intrigued with any story about Pope Francis. She thinks he and his pope mobile is just too cute. She also knows that pope has quickly become a favorite of Uncle Jim’s.
So it was that Thursday morning, the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima she picked up on something that James Hitchcock, author of “Catholicism and Modernity: Confrontation or Capitulation” and who is “opposed to any change in church practice on the issue (the requirement for annulments)” said of Pope Francis, “He is not a systematic thinker. I don’t think he sits down and works this all out. I think he follows his heart. I think he says things in a way he thinks will be inspirational or helpful, and then we can work that all out later…” (Tampa Tribune, August 7, 2015, page 1, Associated Press article by Francis D’Emilio entitled “Pope ‘opens door’s ‘ on divorce policy.”) Pope Francis was addressing the issue that “Catholic who divorce after a church marriage but don’t remarry can receive communion.” Francis is concerned about the fact that “…Children especially will be damaged if they see their parents kept at a distance from the church…”
Sam’s question was not about annulments. Thank goodness I did not have to review and explain the extensive articles of cannon law on the subject of marriage, divorce and annulment. Sam’s merely wanted to know why it was bad to “follow one’s heart” and if God is going to be angry at Pope Francis.
Sam: Uncle Jim. The guy in the newspaper seems to be saying that following one’s heart is bad. Is it bad? Will God be angry?
Me: (I had just read the article and noticed the same article.) Sometimes that is difficult to decide Sam.
Sam: You always tell me to pray and pay attention to my heart. The other day I asked you if I had to share my lunch with Susie when she forgot her lunch. You told me to think about what it would be like to be hungry and not have any lunch. Then you asked what my heart said.
Me: That is a good example. What did you decide Sam?
Sam: Well. I decided that it did not feel good to be hungry and I shared my lunch with Susie. The next day she had her lunch and an extra cupcake just for me.
Me: That was very sweet of her. I am proud of you for sharing your lunch and impressed that Susie was grateful.
Sam: yet, the other day when the teacher was a mean witch and I wanted to tell her you told me I should not do that.
Me: Remind me of why you were angry at the teacher.
Sam: She would not let Tommy go to the bathroom and he wet his pants. He was very upset.
Me: Oh yes. Now I remember. I was proud of you for caring about Tommy but did not think being mean to the teacher was good.
Sam: Why not?
Me: Well, Sam I do not think that your heart was telling you to be mean to the teacher. The teacher made a mistake but you do not like it if the teacher is mean to you when you make a mistake.
Sam: Well no, but she was a mean witch!
Me: I know it seemed like that and obviously she made a mistake but I do not think she was trying to be mean.
Sam: I guess not. She was upset because 10 people had already asked to go to the bathroom just before Tommy!
Me: yes, she probably thought, incorrectly, that Tommy and some of the other kids were just trying to get out of class because they had not done their homework.
Sam: Yes. That is what she said!
Me: We have talked a lot about Pope Francis. Do you think he thinks with his heart?
Sam: Does thinking with your heart means that one loves people?
Me: I think so Sam.
Sam: Well, it seems as if he really loves people and most people love him but some other men in the church seem to get angry at him a lot.
Me: That is true. We have talked about the fact that some people think that he does not care enough for the rules of the church.
Sam: Yeah! We talked about Jesus not liking rules very much!
Me: That is true. Often the disciples – you remember we talked about the disciples being students of Jesus – thought he was breaking rules such as talking to the wrong persons or forgiving people like Judas. Remember we also talked about Jesus telling Peter we should forgive people 70 x 7 times. We counted out 490 crayons just to see how many that was.
Sam: That was a lot of crayons.
Me: Some rules are helpful. For example in your family you say a prayer before you eat, but the other day just as your mom was getting ready to say the prayer, your brother got sick and she stopped the prayer to take care of him. Helping him was more important than finishing the prayer right then. In that case your mother was thinking with her heart. In your family and at my house people are always more important than the rules. Sometimes a rule such as not playing with matches or the thing your parents use to light the charcoal, is because some person could get hurt. If, on the other hand, you want your parents to help you learn how the lighter works for science class then they would help you explore.
Sam: Well. Can we talk about something else? My brain hurts!
Me: Sure. Do you still want to go to the library to get some new books to read?
Sam: Can we stop for ice cream too?
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