The Pope and Passover

I love ritual, which is why I felt great this whole week. Between the Pope’s arrival in the US and the advent of Passover, I’m feeling hopeful. I have been reflecting on the intersection of Pope Benedict XVI’s first papal visit to the US and the story of Passover to extract some lessons for us as we wade through the messy financial markets. I was struck how in both the Pope’s words and the story of Passover, there is an acceptance of the dualities of life: bad and good things occur and what gets us through is not just hope, but the knowledge that we will once again see better days.

Pope Benedict’s decision to address priestly sexual abuse as a central theme was courageous. He first raised the issue on his trip from Rome and did so again during an open Mass in Washington DC before nearly 50,000 people. Before you send an e-mail telling me that the Vatican was quiet for too long, let’s all agree on that point. But we are talking about the future here and the Pontiff chose to dredge up the worst part of the church’s dirty laundry and apologized by saying, “No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse…It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention.”

I know that this is a stretch, but wouldn’t we applaud if CEOs, regulators (including Federal Reserve Governors, past and present) and everyone in the financial services industry took a similar path? It would be great if all participants could admit the role that they played, not by pining mistakes on anything other than some of the most basic human emotions: greed and overconfidence.

The story of Passover also confronts the best and worse that humans have to offer, telling the story of the Jewish enslavement in Egypt and the eventual freedom over the course of a meal, called a “Seder”. The holiday is celebrated by retelling the story, acknowledging all of the bitter hardships that occurred and the sweetness of freedom that finally occurred. One of the more interesting parts of the holiday is that it calls on Jews to remember not only what happened to Jews, but tragedies of slavery that occur even today.

It may seem trivial to compare economic worries or investment concerns to issues of abuse or slavery, but how we navigate treacherous times can so often define who we are. We are all afflicted by the condition of being humans: good, bad, greedy, and fearful – and all of the other dualities that we face. Having faith and knowledge can help us get to those better days with a bit more grace and less anxiety.