Those over 50 and retro young music afficiandos know what a record is. For those who can’t remember that quaint way of playing music, a record was a disc holding music that was played with a special phonograph needle and — voila! — out came musical sound.

One of the annoying things about records was that when they were scratched they would skip, sometimes playing a word or a phrase over and over. I was thinking about records the other day in conjunction with the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ election. News media and pundits have been analyzing his first year, proclaiming him a success.

I think he is a success as well, but not for the reasons they say. Pope Francis is a success because he stopped the skipping on the Catholic phonograph. What does that mean?

Think about it. Ever since Pope Paul VI declared artificial birth control unacceptable, society concentrated on what the church was against. Popes, priests and bishops too, seemed, like a scratched record, stuck on what the church condemns to define the Catholic faith. They had a tough time talking or being heard on the joys of following the faith.

In fact, for many non-Catholics, the only thing they know about the Church is that it is against evils like contraception, abortion and euthanasia. This truth has blocked our ability to speak out on other important issues as well. Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago tried to stop this narrow focus on our faith with “the seamless garment” conception of life issues which allowed leaders to speak about other evils such as racism, poverty, etc. Yet, that idea failed because critics accused this view of watering down the most important life issues. We went back to “skipping” again, just talking about a few issues instead of the dynamic tapestry of our faith.

I am so against abortion, euthansia, cloning and all the other social evils secular values promote, but, as a priest, I find it difficult to get others not of our faith to see that we stand for other things, as well.

Enter Pope Francis, who with a change of attitude, is able to still condemn the evils in our world, but talk about lots of other things that Catholicism stands for, such as mercy, human dignity, care for the poor.

Now, one of the ways to get a record to stop skipping was to bump the phonograph with your elbow. It then went on to play the rest of the music. Pope Francis, essentially, has done this with Catholicism.

His focus on mercy, his re-emphasis on the importance of talking to folks in the reality they live in, his actions to emphasize his words, have allowed the rest of Catholicism’s message to get through. The pope is adamant about re-emphasizing the evils of abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, etc., but his language and his actions have opened up another view on our faith that the secular world has not seen, so “stuck” has it been on that endlessly repeating “skip” that told people only some of the great truths of our Catholic faith.

Pope Francis’ words and actions may seem controversial to some, but an awful lot of people are taking a second look at Catholicism. Way to go, Holy Father! It is the secret to your success.

It’s up to us to make sure the record doesn’t “skip” again. Teaching the fullness of the faith is the best way to make sure that Christ’s Gospel is shouted to a world that desperately longs for the truth and yearns for an escape from the darkness that veils people’s search for the Light of the Word, Jesus Christ.