Pope Francis,  Pope John Paul II,  The Name of God is Mercy,  Where Peter Is

The Pope Francis Generation

I?m too young to have known John Paul II. He died before I cared about Jesus, let alone the pope. Benedict was pope during my conversion at the end of high school and during college. But I was too deeply entrenched in culture war stuff to care much about what the pope had to say.

Back in college I binged listened to Catholic Answers. I read The Catholic Thing pretty much daily. I regularly read First Things. I cheered when George Weigel came to my alma mater. I was even a fan of Cardinal Burke. Looking back, the reason I immersed myself in these sources was primarily because I was reacting against the liberal heterodoxy I was surrounded by at school.

Francis was elected after I graduated college and was starting to reevaluate my culture war Catholicism. I knew Republicans didn?t like him, but I didn?t pay attention any more than that.

During the year of mercy I read Francis? book, ?The Name of God is Mercy? and fell deeply in love with the pope. That book was the start of a long process, a process that continues now, of shedding the legalism and pelagianism that I thought was the definition of orthodoxy.

Read the rest at Where Peter Is….

Paul Fahey?is a husband, father of four, and?professional lay person.?He writes for Where Peter Is and Diocesan.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *