The Catholic Church may be on the verge of a new era of laity-supported engagement and encounter as it enters the third decade of the new millennium.
So says educator, author and longtime Vatican watcher Michael Higgins in his new release, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis. The book makes a compelling apology for the Argentina-born pontiff’s plans to free the church from an overreliance on doctrine and tradition and draws attention to the pope’s efforts to bring new talent and fresh thinking into hidebound curial operations.
As president and vice-chancellor (emeritus) of St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, Higgins is a longtime commentator and consultant on Vatican issues. He is also author or co-author of esteemed biographies on Thomas Merton and the late Toronto Cardinal Emmett Carter, as well as books on the Jesuit religious order and the church in the new millennium. In addition, Higgins serves as consultant to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for much of its church-related programming.
The word “disruptor” is an apt title for this new personal portrait. Higgins draws attention to the “-or” spelling, distinguishing it from the more common “-er” understanding of disrupter as something ruinous and harmful. The Cambridge dictionary defines “disruptor” as someone who changes the traditional way an institution operates, especially in a new and effective way.
Pope Francis’ Jesuit formation as a priest and later bishop and cardinal is key to the book’s argument. Inspired by Jesuit founder Ignatius Loyola and his spiritual exercises, Jesuits have long been noted for missionary work, education, social justice and aggressive evangelization. As the first Jesuit to occupy the Holy See, Francis clearly brings the society’s ethos to bear on the church.
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With thanks to National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Mike Mastromatteo, where this article originally appeared.
