Bishops shouldn't look like sourpusses either

No-one likes to be called a sourpuss. So when Pope Francis started talking about some Catholics looking like sourpusses, many worried that he might have been referring to them, as traditionalists or single-issue activists.

Last Sunday, Bishop Mark Davies revived the term. Speaking at an annual pro-life pilgrimage to the National Shrine at Walsingham, he reminded pilgrims to present “the Gospel of life to our contemporaries not as those ‘sourpusses’ with the demeanour of ‘pickled peppers’ … but as people bearing the greatest message, the Gospel of Joy.”

He was echoing Pope Francis’ concern that Catholics might have allowed the Gospel of life to become portrayed as something negative, not always showing what the Church is “for” as well as what it is “against”.

From the pro-life vigils I’ve witnessed, participants look neither grumpy nor particularly overjoyed. Perhaps a bit pious and earnest, as anyone would
when concentrating on saying the rosary, but no sourpusses or Tiggers, either way.

Some could take Bishop Davies’ words as criticism or as an accusation, but like Pope Francis he wasn’t criticising pro-life activists so much as reminding them of the dangers of falling into the trap of appearing in a negative frame. As Pope Francis said, “Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend [the unborn], attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative.”

The trick is to avoid reinforcing that image; in other words, reiterating the positives, and mentioning all the good things the Church stands for, rather than always being on the defensive and standing in opposition to secular liberal values.

It’s a salient message for Catholics to keep in mind in the run up to next month’s Synod on the Family. Cardinal Raymond Burke, currently head of the Apostolic
Signatura, claimed that “the media has, for months, being trying to hijack this synod” – namely by fomenting expectations of doctrinal change, expectations which will inevitably be disappointed.

I don’t entirely agree with Cardinal Burke for the simple reason that the secular media is more clueless than nefarious when it comes to the inner workings of the Catholic Church. The media is only picking up on the whiff of disagreement in the air, on the possibility of reform mooted by Cardinal Kasper. They might be expecting a High Noon-style showdown when the cardinals convene. But in the meantime, Pope Francis has set up a committee to look at reform of the annulments process, which could take the heat out of things. Until we see how events play out, it’s all too easy for lay Catholics and clergy alike to get defensive and blame the media when feeling apprehensive or uncertain, and that’s when we end up looking like sourpusses.

When it comes to the secular media, on issues such as Communion for the remarried and contraception, Catholics will inevitably be framed as standing against prevailing social norms. The trick is, as Bishop Davies said, to confidently assert the positive vision of what the Church is for when it comes to living out the Gospel of life through family life.

Francis has reinvigorated the Church by being warm, smiley and friendly – and thus far without changing any church teaching – so his message about not being sourpusses isn’t just for pro-life activists but for bishops too, and all the Church.