“As far as doctrine goes and church teaching, I didn’t read any radical change or break.”
A philosophy graduate of Dennison University, Ruiz is in his third of what likely will be six years working on a doctorate in Rome before returning to teach priest candidates for the Cincinnati Archdiocese.
In the interview with the Jesuit “America magazine” released last week, Pope Francis said “the proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives” as a church priority.
“Today sometimes it seems that the opposite order is prevailing.”
“The message of the Gospel,” he said, “is not to be reduced to some aspects that, although relevant, on their own do not show the heart of the message of Jesus Christ.”
Ruiz talked about the pope’s message on two levels.
One involves the public discussion of moral issues.
There, he said, the pope is seeking what many in civil society are working for: Discussions that are more respectful and less divisive.
Ruiz said the pope is urging pastors and Christians as a whole to carry their message into the world “while not losing sight of the fact the person you are disagreeing with is made in the image of God and has dignity in being a child of God.”
“Certainly, I think I can see Pope Francis saying, ‘Let’s just put all our cards down on the table, let’s have a true discussion about this. Let’s truly allow the church to explain itself and the world to explain itself.’”
Ruiz said the goal is not to have “a conversation based on respect and love and dignity toward the other person.”
Ruiz said the other implications have to do with the church’s interaction with individuals and the need to view moral issues not in a “bureaucratic-driven mentality” but rather in the context of a more fundamental call to ministry.
A priest hearing a confession “can’t slam the book on a person, because that doesn’t do much to help with the person embracing a life of conversion” to a sense of “the oneness of God” and the mysteries of religious life, Ruiz said. “You have to start with the preaching of the Gospel at its core.”
In the church’s dual role of articulating moral imperatives and ministering to people, “We have to find a new balance,” the pope said. “(O)therwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow.”
Ruiz said over time the church shifts in emphasis because it is called to be “a living, breathing institution … that’s in constant dialog with the culture.”
As a result, he said, the church is challenged to “try to reinvent its teachings” in a way that speaks to the world.
An obvious example, he said, involves teachings on marriage, which “were never an issue,” were never challenged and were not, therefore, a matter on which the church was called to speak out.
The church always seeks to “embrace the world we live in without losing sight of who we are and without losing sight of who Christ is,” he said.
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