Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.: The Model for a Modern Bishop

Thanks to Rick for the invitation to remember Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Chicago’s Archbishop Emeritus, who died on Friday following a long battle with cancer.  His funeral Mass takes place today at Holy Name Cathedral.  Because of his illness, the Cardinal’s death was not unexpected, but it remains an enormous loss, to his family and the people who knew him, to the Catholic community, and, I would suggest (though they may not appreciate it), to those who work to shape American society and culture.

I was fortunate to know the Cardinal, and to work with him and for him through the Lumen Christi Institute, Loyola University Chicago, and the Catholic Conference of Illinois.  Francis Eugene George was a genuinely humble man with a gentle manner and a keen wit.   Although his public demeanor was serious and restrained (as befits his office and the issues he was often called upon to address) in private he exuded real warmth and a playful sense of humor.

George was widely regarded as having possessed a stunning intellect, a reputation that was well deserved.  He was easily the intellectual equal or superior of anyone I have known in university life, whether as a student or professor.  Like the best academics, he had an extraordinary ability to synthesize different strains of thought, and to offer some new insight.  I can honestly say, that whenever he spoke in public I always learned something new that was of value.

There is a view (popularized by some) that draws a distinction between bishops who are “doctrinal” and those who are “pastoral.”  Doctrinal bishops are rigid, uncaring overseers who value rules over people, whereas pastoral bishops care for people and their relationship with God even at the expense of doctrines and rules.  This is a false dichotomy, and Cardinal George gave proof to the lie.  He steadfastly held to the faith of the Church, with heart and mind, and he shared the truth of the Gospel with those in his charge, but he did so with the deft touch of a loving pastor.  George’s predecessor, Joseph Cardinal Bernadin (may his memory be eternal) had the reputation for being a good pastor, but following the formal program of an event at a parish or school he was quickly out the door.  What is not widely known outside Chicago is that at those same kinds of events George was often the last person to leave the room.  He spent extensive time visiting with people, listening to them, making himself available as a genuine pastor.

The Church teaches that the role of a bishop is to teach, sanctify, and govern the local church (diocese or eparchy) with which he is entrusted (Catechism of the Catholic Church ¶ 873).  Francis Eugene George fulfilled these responsibilities in the context of leading a large metropolitan see in an atmosphere marked by an increasingly aggressive secularism.  In this he served as a model for bishops in the United States today.  Here I wish to highlight three quotations from his tenure as archbishop that show these qualities.

1.  Teaching was something that came naturally to Francis George, having served as a professor at Creighton University and elsewhere early in his career.  When he was appointed to serve as Archbishop of Chicago, following the death of Cardinal Bernadin, he came to Chicago to meet with archdiocesan officials, and the first thing he did was to go and pray before the Blessed Sacrament (a move that in many ways set the tone for his entire tenure as archbishop).  After meeting with various administrators he held his first press conference with the Chicago media.  There one reporter characterized George as a “conservative” and his predecessor as a “liberal” and then asked George whether he would be able to reach out to everyone the way that Bernadin did.  George very graciously responded that Cardinal Bernadin was blessed with a gift for reaching people who found themselves at different places in life, and in different places with respect to the Church.  He prayed that he would have the same ability in his ministry as archbishop.  But he also made clear that the role of the bishop is to call people to Christ, and we come to know Christ and to be in intimate relationship with him through the faith of the Church that Christ established “And the faith is not ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative.’  The faith is true.  And so I will preach the faith as Cardinal Bernadin preached it and taught it.  There will be no difference in substance, although there may be some difference in style.”  (Part of the quote can be found here.  A more recent statement of the same theme can be found here).

The idea that religions (all religions, not just Catholicism) make truth claims is at the foundation of modernity’s struggle with religious faith.  It is so much easier to dismiss religion, to marginalize it when it is understood as mere sentimentality, or when it is relativized as a purely private belief, or when it is framed within the lens of politics.  And indeed, if this accurately describes what religion is all about, it’s hard to explain why it can’t be more malleable, why it can’t accommodate itself entirely to the current realities (“facts on the ground”) and the spirit of the age.   But a religious claim that is more than a feeling – a truth that is not of one’s own making, a truth that is received – calls for a change on the part of the recipient.  One simply cannot live one’s life as before.  Francis Cardinal George knew the truth and he insisted on using the language of truth when speaking of the faith.  He did not succumb to the language of politics or psychology.  That, combined with his own personal surrender to this truth, is an enduring model for how bishops should speak and act in the contemporary American context.

2.  As the above story conveys, George took the sacral role of bishop very seriously.  Another story makes the point even more forcefully.  Early in his tenure as archbishop he paid a visit to Mundelein Seminary, the archdiocesan seminary located in a suburb north of Chicago and named for its founder, the City’s most famous archbishop, George Cardinal Mundelein.  During his tour of the campus, Francis George was shown the chapel where the seminarians gathered for Mass and he noticed something was missing.  “Where are the kneelers?” he asked.  His host informed him that some seminarians felt uncomfortable kneeling, and that as a community they decided instead to show respect for God by standing.  Such a response reflects a lamentable understanding of the history behind the practice of kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer in the Roman Rite (which goes back prior to the Council of Nicea), and its meaning in contemporary culture (viz. Standing may be a sign of respect, as when a soldier stands at attention before a superior, or when the courtroom stands when a judge enters.  But it is also a commonplace posture that expresses indifference, or the routine of the work-a-day world, as in standing on the platform while waiting for the train, or in line at Starbucks.  Kneeling, by contrast, is a posture of prayer that is biblical in its origin and reserved for God.).  In response, George, who walked with a noticeable limp due to a debilitating case of polio, got down on his knees and said “Look, I’m a cripple.  If I can kneel then you can too.”

George knew the ancient wisdom of the Church, lex orandi, lex credendi, and he wanted his priests and the people under his pastoral care to be formed in the faith that reflects the relationship of between creatures and the Creator – a relationship in which we should express love, adoration, thanksgiving, and repentance, not the tedium of the work-a-day world.  He sought to do the same with all Catholics in the United States, leading the reforms begun under Liturgiam Authenticam, bringing to people’s lips “words of praise and adoration that foster reverence and gratitude in the face of God’s majesty, his power his mercy and his transcendent nature” (¶ 25).  He knew that only by being formed by the apostolic faith in the liturgy of the Church could the people of God then be equipped to evangelize the culture, to bring Christ to the world.  Lex orandi, lex credendi.

3.  A bishop is also charged with the responsibility of governing his diocese, a role that Cardinal George took seriously.  He was a genuine pastor (shepherd) who gave his flock the freedom to roam, not a CEO who dictated every move they made.  Indeed, at a gathering at DePaul University, I recall him saying how it is not the role of the bishop to decide where the people of God should go, only to ensure that the path taken was consistent with the faith.  Normally, the Lord’s flock choose to go where they will, and the bishop’s crosier – the shepherd’s staff – is used only to keep them from becoming mired in the mud of sin or jumping off the cliff of heterodoxy.  The bishop also uses his staff to protect his people from the wolves that prowl about and seek to do them harm.  Of course these wolves – people opposed to the freedom of the Church and the substance of what the Church teaches – are also our neighbors, fellow citizens, and government officials, and so the defense offered by a bishop must be offered in charity, and measured in tone while not shirking from the truth.  

In this, Cardinal George excelled, leading his brother bishops in the Church’s opposition to the Obama administration’s health care reform measure that included federal subsidies for abortion, and the subsequent HHS mandate requiring employers to provide contraception/abortifacient coverage.  In Chicago he also defended the freedom of any citizen to support the traditional understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.  When the president of Chick-fil-A spoke out in favor of traditional marriage, Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor of Chicago, said that such views did not reflect “Chicago values” (here and here) and that people who espoused them could be denied business licenses. The Cardinal quickly recognized the totalitarian impulse in this posture and appealed to the traditional understanding of freedom and limited government that has defined the American experience (here): “I was born and raised here, and my understanding of being a Chicagoan never included submitting my value system to the government for approval.  Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city?  Is the City Council going to set up a ‘Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities’ and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it?”  May George’s successor and all his brother bishops and all the laity have the same courage to speak truth to power, to live the faith with integrity, and to bear witness to Christ as his disciples in the world.

May the Lord in his great mercy welcome his servant, Francis Eugene George, into the paschal feast of heaven.