The death of a pontiff of the Roman Church, or as we know him, the Bishop of Rome, is a moment in time for all Christian people.   Whether we adore him, are indifferent to him, abhor him, or take any position within these parameters, we cannot ignore him.   As the religious leader of over a billion Christians, no matter what kind of Bishop he has been, he is someone to whom attention must be paid.  

And now, John Paul II is dying.  He has been ill for a number of years, but it now seems clear the death is close.   What a change this illness has wrought upon such a vigorous man.   When he was elected, he was famous for being, I think, the first Pope who skied, and, as I recall, even played the guitar.   He traveled far and wide; he put himself out among the people, even to the point of getting shot by a lunatic assassin.   He was a man of vigor and energy.   And now, in the final weeks of his life, unable to speak, unable to walk, he has shrunk to a figure of miniature proportions, his life energy drained and his body now only a shell of its former heartiness.  

We Episcopalians have an unusual, perhaps unique, view of the papacy itself, regardless of its occupant.   We think of ourselves as Catholics, proclaiming every Sunday that we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church (Nicene Creed, Prayer Book page 358) and at the time of our reformation, we carefully picked our way between the polarities of Protestantism and Romanism, and emerged Catholic and yet reformed.  

For many years, it seemed that the Roman Church viewed Anglicanism as something of a slightly different stripe than the Protestant Churches.   We wondered, in the old days of ecumenical cordiality and warmth, if perhaps they might be thinking that our sacraments might be valid, our orders might be genuine, and that the future might contain some visible expressions of unity.  

And, then came the 1970s and our decision to ordain women and to take a more inclusive attitude toward gay men and lesbians, both lay and even ordained.   Whatever you might think about our decisions about ordaining women and giving gay men and lesbians an approved and accepted place in the Church, it had a distinctly chilling effect upon relations between us and the Roman Church.

And so we come to the situation of our present day.   The Roman Church has reiterated its position that women cannot be ordained, that homosexual behavior is immoral and reflects an intrinsic moral disorder, and that our priests, bishops and deacons have no standing from the Roman perspective.   The differences are deeper and more serious than they have been in a century.   It is difficult to believe that the kind of potential rapprochement we knew back in the 1960s and early 1970s could ever have existed.   We are living in a different world.  

And this brings me to Pope John Paul II, the Bishop of Rome.     I regret that we no longer enjoy cordial relations with Rome as once we did, but I regret even more that the Roman Church has made the wrong decisions about the issues that divide us.  

But that said , we are coming to the end of an extraordinary papacy.   As a non Roman Catholic, I admire John Paul II for two things.   And they are two, extraordinary things which must always be remembered when the obituary of this Bishop is written.  

This was a man who had a stunning ability to connect with young people.   Many years ago, the Pope celebrated the Eucharist at Candlestick Park , a baseball field south of San Francisco .   In those days, I did not have the respect for him which I now have, and so I did not plan to attend the event, nor did I understand the passion of those who would not have missed the occasion.   The stadium was filled.   I believe that over 50,000 people were in the congregation.   And the number of young people!   It was astonishing to see the way that this man, in his early 60s, could reach out and touch the lives of teenagers.   In our Church we fret and fret about our sagging youth groups and our diminishing Church Schools.   If we had youth leaders with a tenth the charisma of the Bishop of Rome, our parish houses would be teeming with youth. I only wish that what he had could be put in a spray can.   He was remarkable with young folks.  

This pope changed the world.   This pope assisted in bringing to a end the European domination by the most evil empire the 20 th century had known.   Working closely, but clandestinely, with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the Pope allied himself with the moral cause of the Polish labor movement, publicized their cause and adorned it with his presence and he brought that scandalous and brutal regime to an end.   Ronald Reagan may well have looked Mikhail Gorbachev right in his birthmark and demanded “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”   But John Paul II looked at the whole Christian world, called their attention to the revolution in Poland and demanded “Get behind these people!” And we did, and communism, that scourge of the century took its place on what Ronald Reagan called the ash heap of history.   It might have happened without the Pope, but he gave it moral authority and Christian imperative.  

I will miss this Pope. He and I would disagree with many, many things, and I am sure that he has relatively little interest in the reactions and opinions of a fairly insignificant Anglican cleric.   But when it came to the ability to articulate the faith and the conviction to stand for real social justice, this man was without peer.   May he rest in peace and rise in glory.  

x

The Rev’d Lloyd Prator, Rector
Saint John’s in the Village Episcopal Church

New York City