Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I am not a Catholic, so what I say about the Catholic Church may not be worth much.

I still do remember a time many years ago when my family was traveling in Bend, Oregon and we came upon an ornate Catholic church that my parents said we should look at carefully. 

Then, one of them, also said this:  “Some kind of Pope must be involved there.”

It clearly was slip of the tongue, one that prompted laughter afterward because, of course,  there is only one Pope, not “some kind of Pope.”

So it was as the new Pope was chosen at the Vatican the other day, I was interested in an essay that appeared in the New York Times a day or so ago as it made the point that, with different styles, Pope Leo may be much like Pope Francis.

Here are excerpts from the essay written by David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University who has covered the Vatican as a journalist for four decades:

“With the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the College of Cardinals sent a clear message of continuity with the reformist agenda of his predecessor, Pope Francis.  But despite Leo’s reputation as having a quieter, more disciplined personality than that of Francis, the conservative ire that has roiled Catholicism during the previous pontificate is likely to continue with this first American pope.

“Traditionalist Catholics, especially in the United States — where much of the opposition to Francis was based — had yearned for a new pope who would rein in or even reverse changes that Francis made to foster a more inclusive church, where authority was shared and everyone could be heard.”

Francis’ favorite vehicle for those reforms goes by a bit of church jargon – the word “synodality.”

As a person who likes words, I was interested in this one, which appears to have been coined using, as a base, the word “synod.”

Here is what synod means:

“An assembly of ecclesiastics or other church delegates, convoked pursuant to the law of the church, for the discussion and decision of ecclesiastical affairs.”

So, it makes sense that “synodality” would mean something along those lines.

From the writer, Gibson:

“It’s a term much bandied about but little understood.  It refers to the gathering of church leaders and members to discuss and debate urgent issues.  For Francis, it meant bringing together bishops and lay people, women and young people — and yes, the pope — to speak openly and as equals about issues that would have been barred from discussion, much less consideration of solutions, in the past.

“Many conservatives read into how Francis conceived of synodality a veritable heresy that sowed confusion and ambiguity among the faithful.  It was a manipulative way of changing the church, his critics believed.”

Not so, according to Gibson.

As a non-Catholic, I credit the late Pope Francis for at least two things:

• Advocating inclusivity for all people, not just who resemble you – and his pastorage in Peru illustrates his ethic.
• Advocating synodality to discuss issues in an attempt to bring people together for rational conversations, not just disagreement.

The new Pope, Pope Leo ,said this as he met with believers for the first time from the basilica at the Vatican:

“We must not hide behind an idea of authority that no longer makes sense today.  The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers.”

As I watched reports on the Conclave that chose the new Pope, I had these thoughts from far away:

• There is something of value to the art of politics behind closed doors – the method of choosing the Pope.  Those who vote do not have to preen for the cameras; they just have to do the hard work of voting without prying eyes. 
• Those involved in politics in this country, should practice the art of synodality – finding ways to talk about tough issues under the premise that, as I like to put it, “reasonable people can disagree agreeably.”

So I say to the new Pope, thanks for your history as a pastor.  Continue to do the good work of pastoring, especially in your new papacy.