Guest AuthorThe Republican Party needs a Pope Francis.
You know, an old white guy who is tolerant. Kind, not grumpy. Open to more than only people who have millions of dollars or an extra-large chip on their shoulder.
Notice that Pope Francis hasn’t changed any fundamental beliefs of the Catholic Church. He’s just made it more likable, more relevant, more involved with the world by urging Catholics to remember the core values of compassion, mercy and tenderness and to be less shrill when opposing homosexuality, abortion and contraception.
It’s about time.
Both the Republican Party and the Catholic Church took a harsh right turn about 40 years ago, ignoring the work that had made them great and demanding that everyone be just like them.
As a former altar boy who has been a lapsed Catholic since my first year of college, I’m not about to rejoin a church that treats women as second-class citizens and clings to the rule that priests must be celibate and male. And I hope Francis works harder to open the church’s eyes to the harm done by so many years of looking the other way while priests abused children.
But I am more likely to listen now when he speaks.
The pope walks the walk. His style is down to earth, and he is taking a page out of the Bible by ousting the Vatican’s inbred bureaucracy. Talk about kicking the money-changers out of the temple! If only politicians would do that with big-bucks lobbyists.
The Republicans seem bereft of likable, innovative leaders. (The Democrats are very weak, too. Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton and Maxine Waters all need to make way for new blood and new approaches.)
The Republicans have high-profile newcomers in the Senate, but they’re not leaders. They’re guys like Marco Rubio, who seems lost outside of Tallahassee. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are self-aggrandizing vote-mongers who never learned the lessons of Newt Gingrich and other kamikaze politicos. And while bully-boy Chris Christie may be secure as governor of New Jersey, he polls very poorly among women.
For decades the Republicans have been wrong on the big issues, opposing women, minorities, education, the environment and just about any positive change for America. They’ve excommunicated themselves from most independent voters.
Maybe the Republicans should lock themselves up somewhere and not emerge until they find someone who can lead them back to mainstream America.
Let us pray.
Mark O’Brien is a writer who lives in Pensacola.
