The Power of Empathy to Help Fuel the New Evangelization

Carlos Briceño
12 min readNov 2, 2016

Pope Francis eloquently summed up the mindset of empathy on Dec. 3, 2016, when he addressed business leaders during a Time-Fortune magazine-sponsored Global Forum. These leaders, some from Fortune 500 companies, were meeting to create solutions to global economic and social problems. The Holy Father said:

“Involve in your efforts those whom you seek to help; give them a voice, listen to their stories, learn from their experiences and understand their needs. See in them a brother and a sister, a son and a daughter, a mother and a father. Amid the challenges of our day, see the human face of those you earnestly seek to help.”

Other people are also inspired by Pope Francis’ example of listening with great empathy. Consider the following quote by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, during his address to the U.S. bishops during their fall 2016 assembly:

“We have been describing young people and their relationship to the Church. If we are to help young people discern God’s plan for their lives, we might ask: what are they looking for? They are looking to be heard. Earlier I mentioned the idea of accompaniment, which implies going to them and being with them. To this, we add listening to them. Listening is an important element of discernment. Pope Francis said: ‘I think that in the pastoral ministry of the Church many beautiful things are being done, many beautiful things… But there is one thing that we must do more, even the priests, even the lay people, but above all the priests must do more: the apostolate of listening: to listen!’

A priest from the Diocese of Cleveland, Father Damian Ference, perfectly summed what I am about to share with you when he wrote the following:

“Pope Francis has offered an important contribution to efforts of the New Evangelization: before one can evangelize others effectively, one must first encounter others effectively. In other words, an often overlooked step in the activity of evangelization is simply meeting people where they are, and loving them where they are, and understanding what it means to be where they are, and then working to understand how they got there. This sort of encounter is disarming, as it first speaks ‘I love you, and I want to understand you,’ rather than “I have the truth, and I want to change you.’ … Francis is offering an important nuance that is easy to miss: encounter precedes evangelization.”

In this posting, I will make a clear case that more church leaders need to learn the art of intentional and deep empathy/encountering others, and, when those are done well, allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to be open to innovation as a vital and intentional aspect of evangelization and church planning. We need these mindsets to disrupt the secular world as effectively as the business world does at times.

To understand the power of innovation, I will share with you several anecdotes, the first one involving an object we see all the time on grocery store shelves, the second one involving a Catholic priest.

The tin can was invented in the early 1800s by a Frenchman, mainly because Napoleon Bonaparte needed a way to feed his far-flung troops with preserved food. It became patented in 1810. The cans were thick then, so brute force was usually applied to open them; for instance, soldiers used their bayonets. Other people picked up a hammer and chisel. It took years — the rotary tin can opener was invented in 1870 — before an effective, and safer, method to open the cans became readily available. I imagine a lot of people today would think it inconceivable to use a bayonet or chisel to open a tin can. But that is how people coped for years, doing the “same old, same old” because that’s just how it was done.

In sharing this, my aim was to offer a vivid illustration of what happens when there is a lack of empathy, and lack of an immediate innovative mindset, to counteract a problem or issue that cries out for innovation.

The second anecdote involves a Polish priest.

Monsignor Konrad Krajewski used to be the papal master of ceremonies at the Vatican, a job he held from 1999 until 2013. In his spare time, inspired by the example of Mother Teresa, Monsignor Krajewski, along with several nuns, used to regularly distribute food to the poor and needy in the area around the Vatican, gathering it from leftover meals eaten by the Swiss Guards or from the pope’s table.

In 2013, Monsignor Krajewski’s job changed after he got a call from Pope Francis, who appointed the priest to be the papal almoner, a job that’s been around since the 12th century and the office from which money is collected and distributed to official Vatican charities.

In other words, a desk job.

Correction: a desk job for centuries under previous popes.

“You can sell your desk,” Pope Francis told his new papal almoner, whose nickname among the poor is Don Corrado. “You don’t need it. You need to get out of the Vatican. Don’t wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor.”

Having heard of the priest’s outreach to the poor — which obviously played a part in Pope Francis’ selection — the Holy Father knew that Don Corrado was well suited for the job, so he encouraged him even more by adding: “Do this work with a lot of imagination!”

The imagination: one of my favorite words and a “super power” that seems to fade in humans the older we get. But, when harnessed and fueled by the Holy Spirit, the imagination can become a rocket ship that soars to great heights. However, the imagination often needs to be jump-started. That is where another “super power” — being able to get out of one’s own perspective and into another’s— comes into play. This combination of empathy and imagination can pave new paths for God’s greater glory and, in doing so, result in some wonderful acts of innovation.

Consider how Don Corrado used empathy. A couple of years ago, he was talking to a homeless man and discovered it was the man’s 50th birthday. To celebrate, he invited the man to dinner, but the man declined, knowing that the restaurant would not let him in because of his foul-smelling body odor. The man added that many homeless people usually find food, from people who give to them or leftovers from the garbage, so no one usually dies from hunger in Rome. What was lacking, however, was a place to shower or to use as a bathroom.

Notice that Don Corrado’s first intention — to feed the man — was a good one, but he wasn’t truly encountering the man as Father Damian Ference suggests we should do. Also notice how often we, who do church work, have good intentions, but those intentions may not actually address the real root of the problem or result in the same old, same old. Most of us continue to do the same old, same old because we don’t seek to be innovative. Or don’t know how to be.

Or haven’t truly encountered the other.

Now, consider how listening with empathy helped Don Corrado understand the homeless man’s plight better — and that, in turn, led to some wonderful solutions.

The result?

If you go to St. Peter’s Square today, a few steps from Bernini’s Colonnade, you will find bathrooms with free-use hot water showers for the homeless, which became open to them in 2015. Also available are a complete change of underwear, and a kit that contains a towel, soap, toothpaste, a razor, shaving cream and deodorant. Most of these items are donated by businesses or individuals; Don Corrado’s office purchases any items that end up lacking. In addition, there is a barber’s chair available for the homeless, with free haircuts offered every Monday by volunteer barbers and students. All this was due to Don Corrado’s leadership, and, of course, him not just sitting at his desk.

It took someone decades before an inventor came up with the rotary tin can opener. It took centuries before a pope realized that a Vatican position could be an invitation for innovation; in Pope Francis’ case, it took less than a year into his pontificate to encourage a man to be innovative in serving the poor.

My point is that sometimes innovations come about slowly. And, sometimes, in the hands of a visionary leader, they come about quickly. But, in general, how many church leaders do you know are truly innovating or using empathy on a constant and intentional basis? How many are still doing the “same old, same old” because that is how things have always been done?

For instance, how many baptism ministries do you know of are connected to an awesome mom’s ministry? Is the parish bulletin, which has basically been the same since I was a kid, going to continue to exist for the next 50 years in basically the same form — or are there more effective ways to reach others after Mass? How many parishes do you know of are entrenched in their own silos when they can be collaborating, sharing resources and connecting with nearby churches? Why aren’t more church leaders sponsoring hackathons like the ones that a San Francisco parish have sponsored?

Those questions in the paragraph above serve as a reminder that church innovation doesn’t have to be a huge leap, because those questions were not the equivalent of asking people to find a cure for cancer. They were simply reminders that there can be a fixed mindset in many parishes, which is not allowing the Holy Spirit room to operate.

Statistics show that the U.S. Church has lost more than 1 million Catholics between the years of 2007 and 2014. This sobering fact suggests we need to take immediate action as the missionary disciples we are called to be, and we need to do so in ways that may not have been thought of before.

It’s important to note that innovation does not simply occur out of thin air. It requires openness, a vulnerability and sense of playfulness that is not easy for many adults. It requires giving up control, in other words. Part of the recipe for success for church leaders includes a humble and sincere wish to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is not easy because it means not being in charge.

So what do we do?

To be clear, I am not advocating that the Magisterium change. What I am in favor of is getting more leaders to listen deeply, explore what people need and truly be open to the Holy Spirit, all of which paves the way to innovative solutions.

The business world understands this. Consider Uber. It recognized that the traditional taxi model — long waits, some drivers were maniacs on the road, you had to pay only in cash — annoyed many people. So they erased those pain points for a more convenient experience. Now contrast that with companies that did not innovate or adapt fast enough, such as Pan Am Airlines or Blockbuster, both of which are now out of business. The Church will never go out of “business” because Jesus promised the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. But we are in the “business” of making disciples — not losing them.

Obviously, we need to continue to do what our faith calls us to do: celebrate the sacraments; proclaim the Gospel; be more inviting and welcoming; pray more; rely more on the Holy Spirit; and love more. But we also need to innovate more, as well, and that means bringing some successful tools and mindsets from the business world.

One example is design thinking, which provides a process for people to become innovative thinkers and helps them to uncover creative solutions that often lead to an improved future result. It is referred to as human-centered because the first step in the process is empathy.

You can’t truly understand someone’s problems or needs until you see the world through their eyes. Design thinking is highly respected in the business world because business leaders have recognized that having empathy in a world that often lacks it leads to positive results. IBM recently became a design-driven company by training thousands of its employees in this methodology. The new CEO of Ford, Jim Hackett, is a big proponent of design thinking. Airbnb, Pepsi and Uber credit it as a big part of their successes.

Design thinking works on the premise that you can learn a lot through observation and asking questions, gaining insights into people’s pain points and problems. Whatever creative opportunities exist — which aren’t seen or realized yet — can be uncovered through the power of empathy and the rest of the steps involved in the design thinking process, which is visually represented this way:

There is a famous story in the design thinking world where a guy who designs medical imaging equipment, Doug Dietz, was in a hospital looking at one of his machines when he noticed a young girl, who was crying and terrified about having to use the MRI machine. He learned that hospitals routinely sedate pediatric patients for scans because their anxiety causes them not to lie still. Dietz’s machine was a marvel of technology, but a chamber of horrors for a child.

The original version of the MRI machine that Doug Dietz designed. Notice how scary it would appear to a child.

So he used design thinking for a solution. He started with empathy. He asked lots of questions and observed young patients, in particular, and young children, in general. He came up with a prototype that became the “Adventure Series” scanner, transforming the MRI suite into a kid’s adventure story, with the patient as the star. Colorful decals are placed on the outside of the machine and on every surface in the room. There are certain themes. A hospital in Pittsburgh, for instance, has a Pirate Island theme, with the scanner appearing as a pirate ship, and a technician who hands a patient a black-felt pirate hat and says, “Aaaaaaarrr ye ready to climb on board?” What used to be scary has now, through the power of empathy, become an adventure. Sedations are down by a significant amount, and kids are less anxious, as a result.

One of the re-designed MRI machines, which came about after Doug Dietz used the power of empathy. Notice how less scary it might be for a child.

That is what happens when innovation is intentional and when empathy is used as a pathway to creative problem solving. Now imagine church leaders invoking the power of Holy Spirit and prayer — and using design thinking — to be intentional innovators.

In the diocese in which I serve, we are beginning to explore how design thinking can help equip people in their ministries with a mindset geared toward empathy. For instance, in the fall of 2017, I began a pilot project collaboration with a parish’s confirmation program in my diocese. In the past, parish leaders encouraged their youths to do Works of Mercy as part of the confirmation process.

In the pilot project, the youths are learning design thinking as a way to identify problems they identify in their community or parish by using deep empathy and then come up with innovative solutions that will result in acts of mercy to help others. Throughout the process, they are learning how to podcast in order “shout it from the rooftops” about what they are learning as young Catholics. Imagine if some of the youths come up with ways to increase the amount of food that a local food bank receives. This is all part of what being a missionary disciple is about in the New Evangelization, as far as I’m concerned.

In training others as design thinkers, one of my goals is to instill in them the mindset that, although the world is full of many problems, which includes those folks who do not have any relationships with Jesus, they can learn to develop the creative confidence necessary to become effective problem solvers. It all starts with being vulnerable to the Holy Spirit and vulnerable enough to lead with empathy. And so, once they start to receive this training, the world changes for them because you start to be more cognizant of the problems that people face that may block them from coming to church or from having a relationship with God, but, simultaneously, they also realize that they have the tools to dip into that offers a proven way to figure out innovative solutions.

God blessed us with powerful imaginations; we need to use them to keep pace with a world that is full of imaginative disruptions and distractions to people’s spiritual lives. Pope Francis put it this way in his apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel:

“Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way.’ I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities.”

In short, let’s bring more empathy to the table. Let’s learn how to encounter others. Let’s learn how to become nimble enough (through being open to the Holy Spirit) to evolve and stay relevant to the ever-changing needs of people and society (by having an innovative spirit). Let’s collaborate more. In other words, let’s be bold and innovative missionary disciples — and see the human faces of those we want to help.

To contact Carlos, or to learn more information about his workshops on empathy and encountering others through the “Joy of the Gospel,” please email him at magazine@dioceseofjoliet.org.

--

--

Carlos Briceño

I’m a Catholic journalist and love to use design thinking as a pathway for innovation. I also love teaching others to be more innovative.