Francis understood what Vatican II reaffirmed: that the Catholic Church is the universal sacrament of salvation, and no distinction can be drawn between the institutional Church and the “real” Church – they are one and the same (LG 1;8). Blessed John XXIII said that the Catholic Church is the soul of the world, the "mother and teacher of all nations . . . the ‘pillar and the ground of truth' . . . entrusted by her holy founder [with] the twofold task of giving life to her children, and of teaching them and guiding them – both as individuals and as nations . . . ” (Mater et Magistra, 1).

And yet most us treat the Church the same way we treat our flesh and blood mothers. We want the mother part, but we don’t want the teacher part. We want her around to feed us, encourage us and offer us solace when things are going badly. But we don’t want her advice, especially when it interferes with our comfort.

A very great Jesuit once said that “If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines. For I must be convinced that in Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and in His spouse, the Church, only one Spirit holds sway, which governs and rules for the salvation of souls. For it is by the same Spirit and Lord who gave the Ten Commandments, that our holy mother Church is ruled and governed.”

Those are the words of Ignatius Loyola. They sound pretty unsettling to the American ear. But like St. Francis, St. Ignatius lived in a time just as conflicted as our own. He was certainly no fool about the defects of human nature and leadership; or about what the Church needed in order to renew her mission to the world. But he understood that the Catholic Church really is the bride of Christ, and our mother and teacher. He understood that we find our deepest freedom in obedience to the truth and in service to God's will – exactly as Jesus showed us in the example of His own life.

When an individual or even a religious community redefines obedience to mean something other than a practical, willing obedience to the Gospel and to the pastors of Christ’s Church – no matter how imperfect those pastors are -- what always results, without exception, is disobedience to Christ Himself. So if the new communities in the Church are “right wing and flaky” because they seek to be obedient, then so was St. Francis, and we need a lot more of it.

If the new communities in the Church are “right wing and flaky” because they preach Jesus Christ without caveats or excuses, and they want to bring the whole world to believe in Him, then so was St. Francis, and we need a lot more of it.

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