A new Pope, but will it be a new Church?

Once again on Ash Wednesday my thoughts turned to this blog.  Perhaps a seasonal, or just a Lenten blog is all I can manage at this point in my life.  This year, I choose to think of writing here as part of my Lenten reflection.  Perhaps then I won't feel as guilty when it just sits here from the 2nd Sunday after Easter until the next Ash Wednesday.  Ooh, I know!  Maybe it can follow the liturgical year--I'll try to write during Advent, as we approach major holy days...  All things to consider, but for now, let's just stick to Lent 2013.

This Lenten season began with a very stunning announcement, and now we anxiously await the announcement of a new Pope.  The commentary over the last few weeks has been filled with speculation of who the next Pope will be, and analysis of Benedict XVI's decision and what it means for future popes.  One of the more interesting pieces actually referenced the church I attend in Brooklyn, which elicited this response from one of the priests.

I have had many mixed feelings since Pope Benedict announced his resignation.  After watching a beloved pope take us along on the journey of his failing health and his ultimate death, I was disappointed that Benedict wouldn't follow that example, reemphasizing the beauty and fragility of human life.  But as I watched the commentary and speculation, and Benedict's final public appearances as pope, I was struck by the grace it took to say "I am no longer able to be the leader of this Church, and I recognize that the Church is larger than me."

Sure, I'd love to see a more open Church:  one that doesn't demonize and harass our gay sisters and brothers, while protecting that small group of men who have tarnished the priesthood with their crimes against children.  One that looks to women religious for counsel more than it tries to silence them.  One that acknowledges that perhaps the solution to a shrinking number of parishioners in the pews isn't to draw ever more inward but to actually consider the wishes of the laity for more inclusivity.  One that understands that modernizing does not have to mean abandoning tradition wholesale, or the foundations of our faith.

But maybe because it's Lent, I find myself trying for a little more patience in my everyday life, and extending that to my Church, which I continue to love in her fallibility and brokenness as well as in her grace.  If we remember that the first Pope, chosen by Christ, was the very human Peter, who didn't always understand where he was headed or why, but trusted in the Lord to get him there, perhaps we will cut ourselves some slack too.  I'm talking to you, Cardinals--remember Peter as you deliberate, please.

This will be a Lenten season unlike any other in the lifetimes of every living Catholic--we are witnessing a papal transition that hasn't occurred in centuries, and we will have a Pope, and a Pope Emeritus.  I am sure that I am not alone in praying for wisdom and reflection in the choice of the new Pope, and as Catholics have done after every Papal tradition, we will go on, for as I have said many times before, it is we who are the Church.

Happy Lent.  Happy fast.