Observing the Catholic Church

Today, Sunday April 12, I went to church as usual.  Today’s Mass was in a new venue, still at Basilica of St. Mary  in Minneapolis, but today, and for the next 48 Sundays, the sanctuary is the church undercroft (basement) as the 100 year old sanctuary, and the church generally, is being renovated.

Basilica of St. Mary April 12, 2026, 9:30 a.m. Mass

I’m a regular at Basilica, and I wasn’t sure what to expect today.  The venue was packed, many more than I thought I’d see.

The Priests homily (sermon) today was very similar in tone to Pope Leo’s Easter. message on peace, focusing on what is happening in the Middle East and the immigrant situation in our own country.

A few hours later CBS 60 Minutes lead story involved three U.S. Catholic Cardinals, reflecting on Pope Leo’s position, and their observations of the Church generally.  (They are of Washington DC, Chicago and Newark.)

This church of mine is no monolith where everyone thinks alike – More voted for DJT than for Kamala Harris in 2020.  The recent Popes have by no means been “cookie cutter” leaders of this church which is said to have 1.4 billion members worldwide.  John Paul II, Benedict, Francis and now Leo, the first U.S. Pope, made their mark in different ways.

What the designated leader says is very important, setting the tone, as it were, for the institution he has been selected by his peers to lead.

What transpires down the road is not yet known.  But the first signs are hopeful.

POSTNOTE: 

There is no doubt that the Pope – any Pope – is an “influencer”.  He (always a “he” so far) is freely elected by his colleagues (the College of Cardinals) to lead an immense institution with a very long history.

At the same time, in that room in the above photograph I took on Sunday, if I picked the first ten people around me, all but one, people I didn’t know, and asked some obviously slanted questions, I highly doubt that I would get a clear majority answer about most any “churchy” topic.  People have minds of their own, and they’re sitting in their chair at church for their own reason.

Regarding war, generally, oftentimes the Catholic Church gets stuck with the “Just War” conversation.

In that regard, a few days ago I came across an old file from 2003 which includes many peace-related documents I had saved back then.  One of the documents was a Catholic interpretation of Just War, published in 1993, and apparently still in effect in 2003.  Here it is, if you wish: Catholic on Just War 1993.  (Personally, I would consider myself anti-war, but not a purist.  I think there is evil among us, and peaceful means are sometimes not enough.  But neither is war an answer, often simply aggravating the problem, rather than solving it.  Succinctly, my opinion only, WWII was the only one that I’d consider “Just”, in my own lifetime.)

Janice Andersen’s column in the Sunday Basilica newsletter seems very pertinent to this conversation.  You can access it here: Janice Anderson Apr 12 2026