My Former Boss

One of my former bosses is retiring.  He only had his position for a little more than 8 years.  His retirement shocked some people.  It is unheard of in his field. 

That’s right, I’m talking about Pope Benedict XVI. 

For five years I coached basketball at Traverse City St. Francis High School. I love basketball, I love high school kids and the Athletic Director asked me to coach in the women’s program.  That led to the Varsity Men’s Coach asking me to assist him with the men’s program.  So, I did both.

Not everyone understood.  The pastor of a local Protestant church was coaching at a Catholic High School?  There was muttering and disapproval from both sides of the Christian aisle. We didn’t think we were doing anything groundbreaking.  Nor was that the point.  My daughter attended the high school.  They knew I had a coaching background.  They needed a mature (old) coach for some of their special circumstances and they asked me to do it. 

Two things were clear from the outset.  My primary job as Senior Pastor of our congregation would always take precedence over my basketball duties.  They were a Catholic school and I would not undermine their faith view and practices. 

The groundwork for such an arrangement had been laid in the 1990’s in a movement led by Chuck Colson and Father Richard John Neuhaus who formed Evangelicals and Catholics together.  The movement was supported and endorsed by other evangelicals including theologian J.I. Packer and Bill Bright.  They received a great deal of push back and lots of hate mail.  Colson reported that this venture adversely affected financial contributions to Prison Fellowship.  But they pressed on.

              

Rather than focusing on the differences between the two methods of nurturing the Christian faith, they focused on what they had in common.  In a document entitled, The Gift of Salvation, they affirmed together that “Justification is not earned by any good works or merits of our own; it is entirely God’s gift conferred through the Father’s sheer graciousness.”

It was clear to me while coaching at St. Francis that the local priests were held in high esteem and school policy and practices were always approved by them.  It was clear to me that the priests, administrators, teachers and students at St. Francis held the Pope in high esteem as their religious leader.  They didn’t agree with every papal stance, but they respected his positions.  As an invited guest employee I was expected to do the same.  The school respected that we had different views and practices of our faith.  I encouraged my players in the practice of their faith and answered their questions (and complaints) carefully and respectfully.  Ultimately the Pope was my boss.

              

For some people I was simply a basketball coach.  For them I was evaluated on my coaching ability.  But for many, my coaching was a symbol of unity in the body of Christ.  It was an affirmation of what C. S. Lewis referred to as Mere Christianity.  Whether a practicing Catholic or Protestant we affirm such fundamentals as the Virgin Birth, the deity of Christ, the atonement, the resurrection, the authority of Scripture, and the second coming.

              

1.2 billion people identify as Roman Catholics in the world.  Today they are praying for God’s guidance and direction in choosing a new leader.  I will join in with them as brothers and sisters in Christ.