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The appointment of the new Archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich, signals where Pope Francis wants to take the American Catholic Church.
That’s what New York magazine writer Lisa Miller wrote of Archbishop Cupich, who has, she said, a “heart for the poor”.
“People who know Cupich say he has a particular genius for bridging gaps between rich and poor,” Miller wrote.
He could also “model ways to address the agonising national problem of income inequality”.
Archbishop-elect Cupich’s fans say his brilliance comes from a deep understanding of Catholicism as a unifying force, and not a splintering one.
As Bishop of Spokane, he took off his collar once a week to work anonymously in a soup kitchen.
He is said to know the names of hundreds of the homeless men and women who live in and around Spokane.
He also celebrated Mass with hundreds of undocumented migrant workers in the wake of the wildfires there last summer.
“He drove three hours, and said an outdoor Mass at a camp. Then he stayed for hours afterward,” a Spokane diocese spokesman said.
But he was also able to get alongside wealthy Catholics, who might not have agreed with all his actions, and convince them to make substantial contributions to good causes.
In Spokane, he also reduced the diocese’s debt from US$4million, when he arrived in 2010, to US$150,000.
He played his part by living on a seminary campus and owning no furniture.
In 2012, Chicago archdiocese ran a deficit of more than US$70 million.
In Spokane, he also encouraged local Catholic Charities to sign up as many poor people as possible to the Obamacare health coverage plan.
He said he was chosen for Chicago “to serve the needs of the people”, and characterised his role more as “pastor” than as “messenger”.
Pope Francis made similar points in a message this month to US Catholic Charities that “No one is to be a ‘leftover’ [and] no one is to be ‘excluded’ from God’s love and from our care”.
Pope Francis said that like the Good Samaritan and Innkeeper in the Bible, “we are called to be in the ‘streets’ inviting and serving those who have been left out”.
The Pope concluded: “We are called to be a Church, a people of and for the poor”.
Sources
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News category: World.
