I was made aware of this book by a protestant friend of mine. She interpreted the book as a bridge between protestants and Catholics and after reading the book was inspired to have a picture of an abbreviated rosary tattooed around her ankle. I didn't know what to say about the tattoo, but I did agree to read the book after my friend asked me to.
However I didn't see it as a bridge. Well, maybe it was a broken bridge. The picture of St. Francis that emerges in this book is of a man who really didn't care about truth, and whose followers up until the present day are willing to simply tell people what they want to hear, to make them "feel" good. The brothers in the book encourage the main character to receive the Eucharist at mass, even though he has not made any kind of oath or Act of Faith or belief in what Catholics believe.
Which would be fine, if the Eucharist isn't actually the Real Presence.
Actually, St. Francis was joyfully submissive to the magisterium of the Catholic church, so I don't now how this author can, in good conscience, appropriate St. Francis so personally for his own purposes. St. Francis was willing to suffer for the kingdom and for truth. He was also an evangelist for ancient Christianity, that is, catholicism. St. Francis believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. (The long series of protestant reformations continuing until today hadn't yet begun.)
I, myself, was offended when I read the book, especially the scene where the protestant pastor receives "communion," and I've tried to engage the author on Facebook twice, to no avail. I know he and I have very different ideas about what creates unity in the Body of Christ.
I have also discovered that my Calvinist Facebook friends are not especially concerned about whether their own modern liturgies and current theologies actually are in unity with the "historical" Calvin. Post-modernism, and it's rebuff of any kind of "distinctions" has thoroughly infected them.
Unity is something very superficial to them. It has to be.
But I do know the one thing that really ticks them off -- when I mention the one thing, the ONLY thing the protestants can cite that does unite them -- which is the simple fact they aren't Catholic. That's the only thing they have in common, and the only "distinction" they can agree on.
So I guess, sadly, that for many protestants, unity is simply found in being against anything Catholic. Which is why appropriating St. Francis for themselves is not only wrong, but also strange. St. Francis, even with his instruction from the Holy Spirit to "Build My Church" never did actually leave the bounds of the one, holy, apostolic and, universal (catholic) church. Far from it, he remained obedient to its legitimate authority. For him, it was possible to bring change from within. But even after 500 years, the protests still seem to generate enough energy to keep all those denominations going. And the protestors still keep appropriating St. Francis for their own twisted purposes.
I know it's possible to rise above the fray because I did.
I followed Truth, as far as it would take me. It was uncomfortable. It took time. But the fruit of that journey has been enormous. It is real and deep.
Unfortunately, telling the complete truth, no matter HOW gently you try to offer it, will ALWAYS hurt someone's "feelings" so feelings (even MINE) can't really be the final arbiter of truth.
And one irony is, I don't think Calvin was particularly concerned about hurt feelings either.
It's just a good thing this book was titled, "Chasing Francis" because that's the one true thing about it. The character of the burned-out protestant minister in the novel is always chasing, never catching, the essence of St. Francis. Just like the protestants are always chasing, but never catching ultimate truth. To the fictional protestant minister in the book, truth is never something truly and concretely findable. Which I find very disturbing and sad.
Just because the truth is big, and we humans sometimes feel too puny to embrace it fully, doesn't mean we shouldn't still expect to find it. It is important for a Christian to assume that truth actually does exist, in its fullness, in the Eucharist, in Christ.
Further, and more importantly, seekers are deceiving themselves if a so-called "search for truth" leads them in opposing directions or spurs them to draw opposing conclusions. Truth is not contradictory or arbitrary. Christ doesn't promote chaos, and neither did (the real) St. Francis.
2009
