Pope Leo is commanding attention on the world stage. Not because of the debate between the traditional Latin mass or a contemporary way of worshipping. He has arrested everyone’s attention because of the bold positions he is taking on issues of human and civil rights, as well as the war in Iran currently on hold due to a ceasefire.
He is wielding the incredible and influential bully pulpit he has as leader of the Vatican to call attention to mass suffering and inequality around the world. In effect, he has become America’s Pope Francis.
Regardless of where you stand on some of the utterances that the pontiff has been making about the use of power and dominance, including the exchange between him and President Donald Trump, it is clear that Leo understands that religious leaders have a sacred and moral obligation to speak truth to power all the time.
That responsibility belongs not only to Leo but to every pastor of a church, including the clergy in Detroit, who are prone to speaking out only when they are either endorsing a political candidate of their choice or standing behind public officials to roll out initiatives that directly benefit them.
Some hardly use their platforms to publicly demand a better quality of life for most Detroiters, who often sit in the pews on Sundays. They forget that at the heart of every denomination or faith tradition is the undying commitment to dignity, justice and protection of the most vulnerable among us.
Detroit has a lot of issues it needs to tackle. This is testing the moral authority of the church because its members are routinely the ones adversely impacted by the economic downturn. It is not enough to just engage in spiritual reflection on Sundays or at Bible studies during the week.
Ministers can call for collective action and speak to the economic challenges facing their members in the city. For example, a recent dire University of Michigan report indicated that Detroiters are shut out of the city’s high-paying jobs, which clearly undermines any economic growth that cheerleaders of the recovery usually point to.
The report lays bare the reality of the recovery, and that in itself is a spiritual crisis because it points to an uneven recovery. Even Mayor Mary Sheffield highlighted during her State of the City address that 64% of Detroiters are not paid a livable wage.
That is something no religious leader or denomination of consequence in Detroit should be silent about. There should be a coalition of pastors right now courageously demanding moral urgency and addressing the wage inequality that many Detroiters are facing, and pointing to the many victims who are trapped in the vicious cycles of poverty.
Refusing to say something about the suffering that thousands of families are going through means normalizing inequality. But what that also does is erode the credibility of faith organizations because people then begin to see that their pastors and bishops are more interested in delivering the invocation at high-profile functions than confronting the real-world suffering that their members are going through.
Pope Leo is offering moral clarity from the Vatican. What he is doing is nothing new. He’s just made the role of the pastor more pronounced by showing the world what those who call themselves members of the cloth ought to be doing. He is challenging what he deems an unjust system and calling out leaders who he feels are not helping poor and disenfranchised communities, including migrants.
The religious community in the city can do the same by strongly advocating for policies that uplift the dignity of its congregation members. And it should not only be done in prayer, but in a powerful demonstration of public witness by being willing to stand in front of city hall and demand an ethical economy that narrows the gap between those who could barely put food on the table and those who have more than enough.
We know where Pope Leo stands. We need to know where our ministers stand. Are they willing to be a catalyst for change that ensures no one is left behind in the revitalization of the city, or simply a custodian for comfort where they are used as a political backdrop for politicians and candidates who are looking to exploit their pulpits to advance their next political venture?
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Bankole Thompson’s columns appear on Mondays and Thursdays in The Detroit News.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit clergy could take a page from Pope Leo | Thompson
Reporting by Bankole Thompson / The Detroit News
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