First Friday, Chevalier Family, Social Justice, Pope Francis – Synodal perspective

Pope Francis addressed the Jesuit community in September 2019 in Mozambique and spoke about shepherding. ‘Great shepherds give people a lot of freedom. The good shepherd knows how to lead his flock without enslaving it to rules that deaden people. The shepherd has the ability to go in front of the flock to show the way, stay in the middle of the flock to see what happens within, and also be at the rear of the flock to make sure that no onedd is left behind.’

And a self-reflective question:

The problem with agitating for reform and presenting ‘an idea’ and seeking support, especially from a controlling elite, is that good ideas are easily dismissed. The elite consider themselves intelligent and when confronted with a new idea, something out of the proverbial ‘left field’, the tendency is to be dismissive. The subliminal thought process goes like this: ‘Here is a new idea. I have not thought about things that way. Since I am intelligent either I should have thought of it (and I didn’t), or it cannot be a good idea. Really it is not such a good idea (because if it was, I would have thought of it).’