Speaking and Listening
The Question: What can Pope Benedict XVI say and do to repair the growing rifts between the Vatican, the clergy and the laity in America?
There is the well-demonstrated truth about communication: we usually hear better when we are overhearing than when directly addressed.
Every faith community I know of, including my own, has painful, internal disagreements, so I can hardly presume to advise the leader of another community. But the Pope himself has observed this week that his U.S. visit comes at a time that is “a crossroads for the church and for humanity as a whole.”
I think he’s right, and in that spirit a few comments about religious leadership might be in order.


