Cardinal Dolan meditates on another Bush presidency
I get the impression that Jeb Bush is so far removed from any consciousness of GOP voters that he’s become a completely technical politician. Every phrase out of his mouth is some kind of arrow shot at a target.
NRO’s Kathryn Lopez phoned GOP Presidential heir-designate Jeb Bush recently, and right away they’re talking about Francis, their mutual pope, and his ‘way with words’.
I’m so jealous. If only I knew how to say those ‘simple things’ that draw people toward me.
What does Jeb Bush think of Pope Francis? The pope must be “the envy of a lot of people in public life,” Bush says. He has a “remarkable” way of “saying the simplest things that draws people towards his beliefs.”It slipped my mind in my new busy-ness but I forgot those fond memories of my becoming Catholic.
Twenty years ago this Easter, at a vigil Mass in 1995, Bush was received into the Catholic Church. We talked by phone briefly on Easter Monday afternoon about the anniversary of his conversion to Catholicism — which had actually slipped his mind. In the busy-ness of my “new work,” he says, “I had totally forgotten it was the 20th anniversary last Saturday. It brought back fond memories.
”When the subject turns to the new FrancisChurch we get a hyper-canned version of the frozen Catholic right:
Asked if he’s experienced change in the Church in the 20 years since his conversion, he points to the stability of Catholicism, but then immediately notes the “obvious” change in the Church the “tone and emphasis” of Pope Francis has brought.
He notes that the media may be missing the whole story when the pope gets into “specifics.” Bush predicts that there might “turn out to be a real disappointment” for people, especially non-Catholics, “who think this guy is really cool” and expect “big changes” in terms of doctrine.
How could they possibly be disappointed when they’ve already been thrilled?
Does Bush imagine we should expect ‘small’ changes in doctrine, or that we should be pleased when they don’t turn out to be big? What does the Governor think is Catholic?
We talk a little bit about the pope’s upcoming visit to the United States this fall. The mere fact that Philadelphia could be expecting in the range of 2 million people, he says, is “a powerful statement in and of itself — that this many people would want to come and hear the pope and participate in communion with him.”
Are there any statistics on the Pope’s appearances today that aren’t inflated? With whom does Jeb Bush think people ‘participate in communion’? Is he talking about Holy Communion or communion with Francis? This phrasing is odd, isn’t it? It reminds me of when Obama praises “His Holiness’s pronouncements.” These politicians seem to think we’re all Children of the Corn.
Can an attitude like Pope Francis’s help Catholics in public life, especially in situations like last week’s unpleasant upheaval over religious-freedom laws? “Absolutely,” says Governor Bush.
“I do think he can help change the conversation. Because right now, it’s just full of landmines.”
A minefield. That’s America to Jeb. A more elitist characterization could not be made, or a more frightened one.
On the topic of Indiana and related controversies, he adds: “It’s hard to imagine a country with our tradition of tolerance where now it’s ‘either/or.’ . . . A country as big and noble as our country doesn’t have space to be able to allow people of conscience to act on their faith and people not be discriminated against? I think we can figure this out.”
This is the Bishops’ position, those conservative lions. Keep trying! There must be a way to force bakers to bake gay wedding cakes and still call it freedom. Endeavor to persevere!
Making clear he’s not mistaking himself for pope or pastor, Bush suggests that “in politics, we really need to focus on language that cuts through that gets beyond them vs. us, the divide that always seems to prevail.”
He readily admits he doesn’t get it right all the time. “I think about . . . how I can improve how I express my views,” he says. People’s beliefs on a lot of hot-button issues like religious liberty, life, among others, may be “informed by faith, your life’s journey, the thousands of interactions you have with people,” and are matters “way beyond politics,” he says. At the same time, discussing them is not only unavoidable, but necessary. So how to do so compellingly, convincingly, in such a way as to invite collaboration and even conversion (of the political sort)?
Well, it seems following that Pope Francis model is the key here. It’s about finding that special language which unites.
Pope Francis’s lesson may just be, Bush suggests, “Where you say it, how you say, it is important.”
“You’ve got to figure out a way that gets beyond being pushed into a position where you sound like you’re intolerant of people who may not agree,” he says. “But you have to say what you believe as well,” surmising that in the case of Francis the media, in search of sound bites, may have glossed over some of the pope’s more inconvenient underlying beliefs.
Despite the fact Pope Francis is a liberal, he is not a Bush. His position is more akin to Obama because he represents the dissident Left within the Church. From Bush’s disinterested American perspective, Francis looks like a smooth talker skillfully manning a faithful conservative post, but that’s only catholic media spin. Francis isn’t protecting faithful positions. They are his targets.
Saying things well is not the Pope’s priority. He demonstrates daily that it doesn’t matter what he says, he can get away with it. The media will always support Pope Francis so long as he keeps doing their work in Rome, but they won’t treat Jeb Bush that way if he takes the primaries. In that case, just like a bishop, it will be his job to pretend, capitulate, and lose – but there won’t be anybody praising his words while he does it.
If I were the governor I’d reconsider my humble and gushing esteem for Pope Francis and his ‘tone’. They both don’t play for the same team and the Pope plays to win. It’s not like Jeb would get his vote.
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