Pope's reforms to be focus of Aquinas Lecture

Friday, Jan. 16, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Jesuit Father Thomas Reese will present this year’s Aquinas Lecture. His topic will be “Pope Francis and the Reform of the Church.”

Fr. Reese, who holds a doctoral degree in political science, is a former editor-in-chief of America magazine; he currently writes for the National Catholic Reporter; in 2014 he received a presidential appointment to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is author of several books, including Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.

Three things are required to reform any institution, Fr. Reese said: Change the culture, get good people in the right jobs, and change policies and procedures.

“The first thing is probably the most important: You’ve got to change the culture of the institution,” he said, adding that Pope Francis is doing this with his efforts to fight clericalism and careerism in the Church, in addition to his calls for spiritual reform among the laity.

The pope emphasizes that people in Church leadership should see their ministry as a service, not as a position of status and power, Fr. Reese said. “That goes from cardinals in the Curia all the way down to people that are working in a parish, whether they are lay or cleric. … This change of culture is not something that happens quickly. I think he’s going to have to devote his entire papacy to continuing to preach that message.”

During the lecture, Fr. Reese also will talk about some of the appointments Pope Francis has made to the Curia and to the College of Cardinals, as well as of bishops around the world. 

While he doesn’t intend to spend a lot of time talking about the Church’s organization, “certainly the Vatican Curia is important because they’re the ones who help the pope in his ministry of the care of the rest of the Church. … If you want to talk about liturgy, if you want to talk about how nuns are treated in the United States, you’ve got to talk about the Vatican Curia. It’s a very important structure in the Catholic Church that has an impact right down to the parish level,” he said.

Pope Francis also is changing policies and procedures. The first restructuring he took on was the financial reforms of the Vatican, which were begun by Pope Benedict, Fr. Reese said. The pope also has called for reorganization of the offices that deal with the laity.

“They’re still struggling with that project, but that might come out, actually, sometime in February,” the priest said.

The committee that organizes the Aquinas Lecture expects a good crowd this year. 

“I think Pope Francis has generated a lot of attention worldwide, and not just in the Catholic community but the population as a whole,” said Michael McGinley, one of the committee members, adding that Fr. Reese’s analysis of the pope is often sought at a national level.

The annual Aquinas Lecture is one way that Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center contributes to the intellectual and cultural dialog at the University of Utah, said Dominican Father Carl Schlichte, pastor, who is looking forward to Fr. Reese’s talk.  

“It will be interesting to hear a Jesuit talking about another Jesuit; I’m sure he will have some interesting and unique points that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else except from another Jesuit,” Fr. Carl said. 

WHAT: 2015 Aquinas Lecture

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 25, 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: St. Catherine of Siena,/Newman Center

170 University St., SLC

Free and open to the public