The riptide of images, soundbites, reports, misreports,
clashes and traffic jams is now just hours away. This papal
visit is no preseason scrimmage for the Catholic. This is
prime time.
St. Paul likened the faith to a "race that lies before us"
(Heb 12:1), and our pope's visit will pull some hamstrings,
rip calves and dislocate a few shoulders.
Maybe I'm huddling with the guys here, but let's see this
visit for what it is: a punishing week of away games, though
just miles from home. When we take to the field, it will be
deafening. Chants. Profanities. Jeers. Maybe your aunt waving
to get your attention from the stands. One of us might have a
Rick Monday moment to save a flag from being burned.
Fact: Many Catholic guys are out of shape. Some have been
skipping practice. Others can't execute a basic pass play. We
constantly misread our opponents. In clutch situations, we
throw interceptions. Once an elite team, today we're known
for forfeiting games.
And yet
that old championship ring we still wear
tells us we have it in us. For the big game, we need laser
focus on three plays: run, block and tackle.
Run
First, the run. The best part about the coming weeks for
every Catholic is the sheer number of chances we'll have to
run the ball for yards. Expect (wide) openings when a friend
or acquaintance will ask (the only practicing Catholic he or
she knows), "So (your name), how about this Pope
Francis? What do you think?"
Run with your response. Don't analyze. Don't check your
incoming text. Forget the jeers in the crowd or your inner
doubts.
Just take the ball and run: Explode out of your comfort zone
and push through your inertia. Unlock your inner-Walter
Peyton (yes, I'm from Chicago) with footwork that
demonstrates your pride in being a Catholic. Run.
Block
Second, the block.
"This is a club that's going to hit you," Vince Lombardi
(hereafter, "the coach") once told his team before a game.
"They are going to try and hit you."
For many, speaking of "the pope" and "church" and
"Catholicism" stirs up baggage and a desire to hit the
nearest practicing Catholic (that would be you) hard: "So
(your name), what do you think of this pope?"
(Translation: You don't actually believe this stuff, do you?)
At this moment we need to block ourselves from two common
errors: misreading the hit and overreacting.
First, lower your shoulders and do your job: Absorb the hit.
Remember that this isn't about you and that at least for now
you're not on offense. Keep your poise. "There is nothing
that they can show you out there that you haven't faced a
number of times," the coach said. Others are looking to you.
Second, when we get hit, we Catholic men are famous
throughout the league for committing errors of overreaction:
yelling, cussing, going passive-aggressive, retreating,
agreeing with the criticism, complaining or undercutting our
(papal) coach. None of this is the kind of "radiant,"
"simple" or "profound" play that coach Francis is asking of
us.
Remember what the coach said: "You are just going to take it
out of them." Keep your poise and confidence. If you have to,
channel Oprah in order to listen effectively. Get in the game
of what's really being said. Then respond as if you've just
forced a fumble and are advancing with the ball for yards.
Run.
Tackle
Third, the tackle.
A lot of us Catholic men have forgotten how to tackle.
Sometime after earning the ring, we got to thinking that
we're either supposed to just wait for the pass or brace for
the next block. But we need to run toward the ball and make
the tackle.
Sorry, guys, but we leave wide-open pockets on the field
every time we go AWOL: the opening (checking email at
daybreak, instead of the Bible), our spouse (having no
spiritual game-plan with her), the water cooler (silence or
tacit agreement with anti-Catholic assertions), the home (not
calling a family prayer huddle every evening) and the guys
(sidelining faith from our friendships).
These are all places where the ball is being moved
aggressively down the field - and often we're nowhere near
it.
The papal visit is no picnic. "It's not going to come easy,"
the coach said.
Are you ready for some evangelization?
Just hit, just run, just block and just tackle. You do that
and there is no question what the answer is going to be in
this papal visit.
Johnson, a husband and father of five, is Arlington Bishop
Paul S. Loverde's special assistant for evangelization and
media. He can be reached on Twitter @Soren_t.