What the Pope’s resignation means to a former fundamentalist (and new Catholic)

Posted on February 11, 2013 by elizabeth

Four years ago, I entered the Catholic Church. This morning, like many of the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world, the news of our Pope’s resignation came as a surprise to me. This is the first time in almost 600 years that a Pope has resigned the papacy. Here is a portion of Pope Benedict XVI’s statement:

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

I have to say, I’m very impressed. It is supremely rare to find a man freely willing to relinquish such a powerful position. Above all other considerations, I see a beautiful, exquisite humility in the Pope’s decision. I have to say, it is the kind of humility I rarely saw in all my years as a Protestant.

Growing up fundamentalist, we passionately decried the papacy of Rome. We said it was unbiblical for one man to have all that power and authority. We eschewed centralized power. At least, we said we did. The reality was that my childhood church was centered around one, charismatic personality whose authority went unquestioned. My grandfather claimed he was “just a brother among brothers” but the truth was that he actually had MORE power than the Catholic Pope because everyone deferred to him. When my grandfather fell, the entire church fell apart, too.

I saw the same Mini-Pope dynamic at work in many other Protestant churches, especially the non-denominational ones. The non-denoms were often organized around one powerful preacher. We attended Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa for four years before becoming increasingly concerned about how “Chuck Smith’s church” operated. What would happen, we wondered, when Chuck Smith was no longer running “Chuck Smith’s church”?

When we attended a more highly-organized Presbyterian church that reported to hierarchies of church boards and voting “Sessions,” we saw the opposite effect: a congregation left largely helpless after its denomination decided to change the sexual requirements for clergy. We were pretty stunned to discover that a denominational board could simply change standards of sexual behavior by a vote. Were issues of sexuality subject to nothing higher than a “democratic” voting process; aka, the changing opinions of board members? Was there no standardized teaching to which we all adhered?

One of the things I admired about the Catholic Church was its slow approach to change. It’s no coincidence that the structural hierarchy of the Church helps maintain teaching and Tradition. In other words, individual priests and parishes don’t individually decide which beliefs to keep and which to abandon. I also noticed that even if many Catholics didn’t seem to “follow all the rules,” at least there WERE rules and they weren’t being tampered with every few years.

One of the reasons I came to Catholicism was because so many Protestant churches had either discarded foundational Christian beliefs (many times in order to stay “relevant” and “seeker friendly) or had a pastoral power structure that was simply unsustainable.

I found a silent witness of peace and humility in the Catholic Church. I found this despite all the scandals, human sinfulness, screw-ups and messy history of the Church.

I came to Catholicism for many reasons and one of them was the unbroken, papal succession directly tracing itself back to the Apostle Peter. Somebody is leading this Church, I thought, and if it were just a mere man, this whole Catholic thing would have fallen apart centuries ago.

I realized I could believe the Holy Spirit was leading the Catholic Church.

Indeed, Pope Benedict understands the papacy isn’t about him. In his resignation announcement this morning, he called the Lord Jesus Christ “Our Supreme Pastor.”

Thank you, Pope Benedict, for your beautiful example of humility. This former fundamentalist is deeply grateful.

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  • Kristen

    Thanks for this Elizabeth. I have a friend who, after starting a couple of non-denominational churches locally, has started “home-churching it” because of a cult of personality issue with pastors. I was wondering how to broach this subject while realizing I am Catholic, and we have one guy in charge. I could make sense of it in my head, but not in my words. Your post eloquently says what I was attempting to…and you are spot-on about BVXI. As Kathryn Jean Lopez said, “John Paul taught us how to die. Pope Benedict shows us how to step aside in humility and love.”

  • Anonymous

    Amen and amen! I’m not Catholic, although I have tremendous respect for the church, but I loved his calling Jesus “Our Supreme Pastor” and his humility in stepping down. That’s an example I think we all need to follow. I’m praying with you and the church as it chooses its next pope!

  • http://twitter.com/waywardson23 James

    Seeing that the Church has been badly run since Jesus left Peter in charge, the ONLY explanation of why it is still around is the power of the Holy Spirit.

  • http://www.quietanthem.com/ Renee Ronika

    I’ll miss Pope Benedict; he really is a man of conviction.

  • http://www.leighkramer.com/ HopefulLeigh

    This is a wonderful reflection, EE.

  • http://twobuerglers.blogspot.com/ Elizabeth

    This is great! Well said, thank you! :)

  • JessieLeigh

    So beautifully said. Thank you. xo

  • Mark S.

    Well said. Thank you.

  • Charlotte

    That home church thing is a BIG problem out there in Protestant circles. Any time I run into someone who does that, I sympathize with the reasons, but ultimately have to dismiss it as totally missing the point.

  • http://www.facebook.com/amanda.l.reid Amanda Milsom Reid

    While disagreeing with him on many, many things, I can respect a man who realizes when it’s time to step down. That his heart and faith moved him to do so shows real strength of character and humility of heart.

  • Anonymous

    As a Catholic, I loved this post. Thank you!

  • kc

    As a brand new Catholic or at least heading strongly in that direction for all the same reasons you’ve become a catholic, EE, I’m getting a totally unsettling sorta vibe from his abrupt resignation. Like.. what is really going on?? Apparently, everyone, even his closest associates were taken aback by his announcement. I guess when you’re pope, you don’t discuss personal, spiritual or even politico issues with *Anyone*? It’s just a real shocking move in a spiritual vocation that is suppose to last the remainder of life. It doesn’t seem that it’s going to bid well for catholic hierarchy in general, the flock of followers or catholic doctrine. I guess time will tell how this will play out. I’m wondering how Easter mass will fare this year at the Vatican.

    • Anonymous

      We’ll have a new Pope by Easter, for sure. The conclave will open March 9 or 10th, probably. Benedict is a quiet man, but his brother knew a month ago that this was going to happen, so I’m sure people knew about it. I doubt there is any deep, dark reason…and his vocation is to the priesthood, not to the papacy, per se. His vocation WILL last his entire life.

  • http://thereforeiambic.blogspot.com/ Elena Johnston

    Thanks for the insightful perspective. Also: well played with the sexual ethics reference. =) You’re handling the controversy with grace and humor–Eschet Chail!

  • http://twitter.com/awestintx sonja

    *slow clap* Thank you for this – as a Catholic is is nice to hear kind words in this environment of hate otherwise known as the internet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jesscaf Jessica Fletcher

    I think what you wrote is a great way to think about this…but I can’t help but wonder if the lawsuits and going after those who hid sexual abuse in the church have anything to do with it. It makes me wonder what his role was when he was a Cardinal, and if some of what he referred to as questions that shake faith is the sexual abuse situation. I hope I’m wrong, but I wonder if you think this is a possible motive? If he is possibly trying to get away from the issue? I’m not Catholic, and I don’t know a ton about this Pope, so I’d be curious if you view this as a plausible explanation. No disrespect intended, just wondering.

  • Jennifer

    I’m Protestant and I’ve seen both sides of the spectrum…a pastor basically bringing a church down with him because the people “above” him in the (Lutheran) hierarchy erred on the side of noninterference, and a large, stable church losing good pastor after good pastor because the United Methodist district moved them away to try to save ailing churches.
    I did recently read the history of my current church (just celebrated 50 years) and found a lovely story that the Pope’s resignation reminded me of. The senior pastor of our church some 30 years ago was getting close to retirement, but still wanted to serve, so he and the then-associate pastor switched positions. It apparently worked well, and that associate pastor remained as the senior pastor for close to 25 years before being elected to a higher office in the denomination. I thought when I read it that you don’t see that kind of humility very often. I thought the same about the Pope this morning.

  • http://evenonesparrow.blogspot.com even one sparrow

    “I have to say, I’m very impressed. It is supremely rare to find a man freely willing to relinquish such a powerful position.”

    This is almost verbatim what my husband said this morning. :)

  • http://kansasbob.com Kansas Bob

    I too have been around many mini-popes. These days I like the UMC as it seems to (so far) stay away from extremes while holding to traditional theological values expressed in the creeds.

  • JCCC

    EE,
    As a Orthodox Presbyterian i can’t help but comment on your comment on Presbyterian polity. To say one day they made a vote for same sex marriage and there it was, show a lack of understanding of that system. That vote was years upon years in the making and anyone who did not see it coming was naive or ignorant, and was only a symptom of a larger apostate spirit in the PCUSA. A plurality of Elders ensures that the church does not change on the whim of a individual. Sadly though the church is in need of constantly reforming and held to the remain true to scripture. Also Presbyterian polity is what influenced American government and not the other way around.

  • TheresaEH

    I would appear that every Catholic is giving up our Holy Father B16 for Lent this year :-(

  • kuliokugs

    You articulated so well the reasons I had for becoming Catholic two years ago, after being raised Protestant (pastor’s kid). Thank you for this post!

  • Kerry @ Climaco Classroom

    I very much enjoyed reading this great post. Your closing words offer hope and insight to all Christians.

  • Kelly

    I live in a small town in Quebec, Canada. The Catholic church has had a profound influence on this province in it’s history, especially on the rural areas. Unfortunately, it has not been a positive influence. Quebec is the most secular provinces in Canada, largely due to the abuse of power by the Catholic church. I hate to be the voice of dissension, but largely because of the work of the Catholic church here in Quebec, people are not just disinterested in God, they have deep, wounded,angry distrust and revulsion for God…or at least for the God that they met in the Catholic church. Aside from the sexual abuse, and one would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have a friend or family member here who hasn’t been abused, the church has wielded it’s power with an iron fist. My parents’ generation easily remembers women being forced by the church to have large families, even at the expense of their health. Women w/small families were called out in services and shamed. Exorbitant tithes were expected, even from poor families, and were collected door-to-door if need be. Masses were in Latin, even just 30 years ago, and people were discouraged from reading their Bibles. Even the buildings represented the authority and importance of the priests apart from the people. I was in a Catholic church recently and needed to use the washroom, but there were no washrooms for the people in the pews. The only washrooms were behind the pulpit, for the priest.

    I am saying all this to say that power corrupts. The province that I love and minister to as a disciple of Christ is broken and wounded, not by the Catholic church, but by men in power. I have been deeply wounded by an evangelical church, and can identify with the “religious” wounds of the people around me. The lack of trust, the powerlessness and shaming, the code of silence and manipulation. It is not a denominational thing. It is a power thing. As a christian, one of my heroes is Mother Teresa. I enjoy many of the elements of Catholic services. My ex-husband, who’s family bore the brunt of their Catholic background and abuse, detested even the smell of incense. I have seen former Catholics have flashbacks and struggle to remain in their pews during ecumenical services held in Catholic churches.

    I think the one thing I have learned in ministering to my small town as a disciple of Christ is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He must be sought, in any church body. I honor your positive experiences in the Catholic church, Elizabeth. Still, the story of the church is always going to be bigger that we are, have facets that we don’t see or can’t imagine, and the only way to walk this path is clinging to the hem of Jesus’ garment.