“I WILL
GIVE YOU
SHEPHERDS”
Forming Priests for the New Evangelization
“Be Ministers of Mercy Above All”
P
Fr. John
Vandenakker, cc
Fr. John Vandenakker,
CC, is pastoral
formation director of
graduate seminarians
and associate
professor of theology
at Sacred Heart.
ope Francis’ interview with Fr. Antonio
Spadaro, SJ, published in the Italian
Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica back
in September, caused quite a stir. The secular
media were quick to take some quotes out of
context, such as “we cannot insist only on
issues related to abortion, gay marriage and
the use of contraceptive methods” as evidence
that an apparent major shift in papal teaching
was happening.
But as Archbishop Allen Vigernon noted
in a subsequent Detroit Free Press interview,
Pope Francis has not changed Church
teaching about these issues at all. “I think
the Holy Father has reminded us that we
have to always place these teachings within
the context of God’s mercy,” the archbishop
wrote. “And if people haven’t heard us clearly
enough on that, ݗ