Narrative Reply Current Event Attached (Pope Bluntly

¶ … narrative Reply Current Event attached (Pope Bluntly Faults Church's Focus Gays Abortion). The Reply a narrative discussion analysis article, Current Event, include: (1)'s significance, relevance, relationship PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, (2) student's opinion article's public administration issue / problem, (3) supported (4) -text reference citations pages text 300 words.

Public administration: Article review

The New York Times article "Pope bluntly faults Church's focus on gays and abortion" is an account of what has often been called Pope Francis' 'refreshing' attitude towards Church policy. Although Pope Francis has not changed the Church's official policy regarding gays (the Church does not condemn people who identify as gay, but believes that all sexual activity outside of a heterosexual marriage is immoral) or abortion (it believes life begins at conception), Francis has distinctly changed his tone, in comparison to previous Popes. Francis stresses that the Church must not become obsessed with these social issues to such a degree that it forgets other important components of the faith. Also, these social and sexual issues are often a 'sticking point' for modern Catholics, and are at the heart of the reason many Catholics have left the Church. When it comes to changing behavior in the public realm, persuasion vs. using coercive rhetoric (such as threatening excommunication) is preferred (Milakovich & Gordon, 2012, p. 36).

This is an important thing for all government officials in public administration to remember. It is not enough for a policy to be 'correct:' the issue must be presented well to motivate people to act. Condemning people for using birth control has clearly not been persuasive. Setting a good example through charity and compassion might actually make modern people more open to listening to other aspects of the Church's message. Indirect persuasion is often more motivating than direct persuasion (i.e., telling people that they 'should' come back to the Church because it is God's will and change their behaviors) (Milakovich & Gordon, 2012, p.264). In the past, the Church's presentation of issues regarding sexuality has shut down, rather than opened up dialogue. Francis' style is more likely to get people to come back to Church, to listen to the gospel, and change their ways via exposure to the warmth of the Christian community, versus being alienated by talk of sin and damnation.

The message of 'love the sinner, hate the sin' was lost in past framings of what it means to be a Catholic. Francis has stressed that the Church does not 'hate' gay people and acknowledges that all human beings have tendencies towards sinfulness. "The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives" Francis has said: in other words, the Church must remember its ultimate intention (Goodstein 2013, p.1). This type of political persuasion or 'jawboning' is far more important than simply using one's command authority, even for the Pope (Milakovich & Gordon, 2012, p. 232).