The Lavender Cardinals. . .

There was a time when I watched 60 Minutes -- if only to listen to Andy Rooney and his take on things.  But it became increasingly hart to watch a show that was so predictably left of center and a mouthpiece of the Demoractic Party.  So it was out of curiosity I tuned into to the Sunday when the program gave voice to the liberal voices of those wearing red, indeed the only actively serving Roman Catholic cardinals in the US.  Cardinals Cupich, Tobin and McElroy appeared as the voice of Rome and the spokesmen for Pope Leo XIV but on a platform which has been a reliable adversary of Trump and the right (not necessarily the same) on 60 Minutes.  In reality these have been reliable supporters of Pope Francis and of the political left appearing on a reliable and leftward leaning program.  Indeed, it has been said by some that these three represent not the future of Rome but its past and the lavender shade of that past.

You could say much about these three lavender cardinals and their words on 60 Minutes but one of the things you must say is that they have been particularly vulnerable to the temptation to confuse and confound political and social positions and movements with the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen.  On immigration in particular but also on the normalization of the role of divorced and LGBTQ within the Roman Catholic Church and uniformly support increasing the role of women if not the ordination of women to the diaconate and priesthood.  They were certainly in sync with Francis but there is not yet enough proof to show that they are in sync with Leo.  What they are, however, is a group fighting to keep control of the microphone and camera in the publicity war that is raging within Rome over what this communion will believe, teach, and confess.

There was a time, not that long ago, when Rome was a reliable voice in the cause of pro-life issues and for the sanctity of marriage.  It was the same Rome that catechetically referred to homosexual behavior as disordered.  I am not at all sure that this Rome continues to exist or have preeminence among the myriad of theologies that comprise this communion over time and certainly today.  If we think that there are fights going on within Protestantism and Lutheranism and Anglicanism over the soul of these churches, there is a fight going on within Rome over which church Rome will be -- one that is within the dogmatic, moral, and liturgical continuity with its own past and one that seeks to break with that past (and with the claim of tradition that Rome has historically made).  Which Rome is the real Rome is given visual imagery as you look at these aging faces trying to hold onto control of the agenda and its content even as this distances Rome from its earlier doctrinal, moral, and liturgical identity.  But before any of us attempts at any smug reply, let us remember that we face the same problem -- a church in love with the moment but increasingly suspicious and intolerant of its own identity and confession.  Who will win?  Don't count the lavender cardinals out yet.