A Conversation With Brendan Busse, S.J.

Brendan Busse,S.J. ’99, M.A. ’11, is pastor at Dolores Mission Church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. As a student at LMU, he volunteered at Central Juvenile Hall and worked with the De Colores program. While studying for his master’s degree, he was LMU’s director of Community Service and Social Justice Ministries. He entered the Society of Jesus in 2008. We spoke to him about the death and impact of Pope Francis.

Did Pope Francis touch the daily lives of the people you work with at Dolores Mission?

Without a doubt. Sometimes world religious leaders seem to stand at some distance from us, but Pope Francis always felt very close. Though he never came to Dolores Mission, I think people here felt very close to him. They felt he was close to them in the ways he seemed to lift up their concerns and honor their experience as migrants and refugees. Being an immigrant himself not only made it easier for our folks to identify with Francis, it’s something that gave him the gifts that he had. Perhaps more than any pope in my memory, Francis seems to have had an impact well beyond the church. He was seen not only as a leader of the Catholic Church but globally as a person who spoke with moral conviction and integrity about issues that affect everybody.

Francis’ being pope directly affected institutions, such as Jesuit universities, because they saw their mission as closely aligned with his priorities. Did he affect Jesuit parishes in a similar way?

I’d say so. His style of leadership was never “Here’s the rule I need everyone to follow.” Rather, it was “Here’s a principle and maybe an example that may inspire you to do things your way in your place.” It’s a very Jesuit style of organizational leadership. Francis gave people a lot of freedom and encouragement to say to themselves, “Remember that love is the first thing, and mercy and being close to people is part of that.” Francis avoided a kind of top-down leadership style in lieu of a model that says “I’ll model what this could look like, and let’s see if from the ground up things might start to work differently.”

Do you think his most lasting impact will be something he did or wrote, or will it be rooted in how he lived his life as pope?

I think it’s a both-and situation. For those who have lived during his papacy, the effect of his style of leadership, personality, kindness, and joy will affect them forever. I think Maya Angelou said people will often forget what you say but they’ll remember how you made them feel. But also, his encyclicals are now a part of Catholic teaching. They become a kind of precedent for future popes, bishops, priests, and lay faithful to use when they choose to do something courageous, prophetic, merciful, or kind in their ministry. The things he’s written and put into Catholic teaching, specifically “Laudato Si’,” will continue to be present for a long, long time.

Have you thought about Francis’ impact on you personally?

Sometimes I have that nagging question, “Am I really Catholic? Am I a good Jesuit?” I didn’t grow up going to Mass every Sunday. I didn’t have a childhood formed in the church. As an adult, I found my way into the church through the doors of social justice and service in places like Central Juvenile Hall. Now that I’m a pastor of a parish in Los Angeles, I go to deanery meetings with other diocesan priests and enter the church political world and in some ways I feel like I’m in a different land. I’m a Jesuit priest, what reason do I have to feel unwelcome? I don’t know. But I never had any doubt that if I had met Francis he would welcome me, affirm me, encourage me to continue in my own vocation. Yes, I feel a big loss, but I feel an even bigger gratitude for what God has done in Francis’ life.