PICK ME OUT 

A WINNER, BOBBY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 24 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Pick Me Out A Winner, Bobby.”

If you saw the 1984 baseball  movie, “The Natural,” starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, you’ll remember the big scene near the end of the movie when Roy Hobbs breaks his bat  in the ninth inning - his favorite and only bat - and says to the batboy, Bobby Savoy, “Pick Me Out A Winner, Bobby.”  “Pick me out a winner, Bobby!”

And Bobby does.  He hands him his Savoy Special - and Roy Hobbs hits this big time, - big hit - home run -  and they win the pennant and Roy Hobbs saves the team from being gobbled up by the bad guys.

“Pick Me Out A Winner, Bobby.”

TODAY’S FIRST READING: QUALIFICATIONS FOR BISHOPS AND DEACONS - HOPING FOR A WINNER!

Today’s first reading has this great text from 1^st Timothy - on the qualifications necessary for a bishop and a deacon as well as being an outstanding woman in the community. [Cf. 3: 1-13]

I’m sure as you listened to today’s 1^st reading - a document from around the year 100 more or less - you had a thought or two about church and bishops - maybe priests - who aren’t mentioned - as well as deacons - who are mentioned.

Paul in this pastoral letter to Timothy gives a great bucket wish list for the ideal bishop or pastor:

              - A bishop must be irreproachable,
                 married only once, temperate, 
                 self-controlled, decent, hospitable,
                 able to teach, not a drunkard, 
                 not aggressive, but gentle
                 not contentious, not a lover 
                 of money.
               - He has to be able to control and
                  manage his own house well.
               - He should not be a recent convert.
               - He must have a good reputation.

The qualifications 1^st Timothy lists for deacons are similar:

             - They be dignified, not deceitful,
             - They are not addicted to drink
                [There must have been a lot 
                  of drinking going on ...],
              -They are not greedy for sordid gain,
              - They have faith and a 
                clear conscience,
              - They too should be married 
                only once.

Women in the local community are also given a list of qualifications:

            - They too should be dignified,
            - They should not be slanderers,
            - They too should manage their 
               house and children well.

I assume that the key behind these lists is the hope of picking a winner - choosing a good pastor - choosing a good leader.

When the bat is broken - the athlete looks for a new bat…. When a pope, a bishop, a pastor, a leader dies or steps down or retires or is changed or is broken, the group moves to come up with a new person to put in charge.  I assume  the members of the group, in this case the Church, are crying out: “Pick us a winner, Bobby. Pick us a winner.”

In our lifetime we have seen popes, bishops, pastors, priests, principals, deacons, heads of committees, leaders, officials, come and go. We have a primary election here in Annapolis today - and elections all around the place.

Pick us a winner, Bobby.

When it comes to Church - besides your comments and observations - what are your hopes and qualifications for leaders? We all have them - more or less. 

It’s a good topic for breakfast or a coffee break.

Last night I wrote down the following first draft comments about all this.

Paul has a great list here in 1^st Timothy. It tells us that the Church has developed and changed and grown since its beginnings.  The gospels talk about apostles, disciples, prophets and followers. In time we hear about bishops, deacons and priests. There is mention from time to time of women in leadership positions. There is scholarship and articles and books on whether there were women deacons in the church - and what they did. First observation: there is development.

Next there are lists of qualifications down through our 2000 years of history. Evidently - this is the obvious thing to do. What does your list look like?

Besides spoken or written qualifications necessary in a leader, I assume that there are also unwritten qualifications and things going on when it comes to replacements: hidden agendas - pay backs - lobbying - etc. Transparency helps!

An obvious comment to make is this: when it comes to picking a pope or bishop or pastor, the pool is not that big. We have to deal with the people we have - not the non-existent super heroes - that people want and hope for. There are only so many 300 hitters. Some parishes and some dioceses might not get Bishop Supergreat!

Next comment: most of us are not in on the pick. We don’t get a vote. Sometimes we get a voice - or some folks get a voice. Few get a vote - before the white smoke tells us we have a new pope.  Tuesday is the usual day for listings from the Vatican of a new bishop for Venice or Vienna or Venezuela. We only read about it. The Church is not that democratic.

I’ve discovered the 1/3 rule - when it comes to being a priest. 1/3 like you; 1/3 don’t like you; 1/3 really don’t care. Our new pope seems to be saying presence and reaching out to folks with TLC is more important for priests and bishops than academic achievements. St. Teresa if Avila said something to the effect that she likes smart priests much more than stupid holy priests.

And this new pope of ours is certainly different than the last pope and the one before that and one before that and the one before that. Some are comparing him however, to Pope John XXIII.

This pope is talking about the attitudes he’d like to see in bishops: that they don’t want the job, that they smell like sheep, that they are listeners, that they are servants, less pomp, and please find yourself in more circumstances on the margins with the poor and isolated. He certainly is for less words and more action. Take the bus. Visit prisons. Wash feet. Don’t eat alone - eat with the community. Shake hands and mix and be with the crowd. Simplicity. Simplicity. More simplicity.

When people ask me my take on the new pope: I always say, “We’ll see. We’ll see.”  I say that because time will tell - like 100 years after his death - how he did - who he was. Moreover,  who knows, perhaps  500 years from now - when talking about a pope, someone might say, “Well, it was only after her death, we realized ….”

I assume the following: if there is anything we can be sure about it’s this: death and change.

If there is anything we have faith about,  it’s this: Jesus is Lord and he keeps saying to us as he says to the young man in today’s gospel: “Rise! Stop being dead!”