And I'm back

I've been busy with many things, to paraphrase scripture, and unable to be creative enough to post things for a few days. But, with a retreat, two presentations for 19 hours, and a vacationing pastor all done now, I find myself with the necessary rumination time to actually do this.

I start with a very interesting article found here in the Catholic World News. It reminds me that we need the renewal in the church and in the participation that Vatican II was supposed to be. We may, also, need to shrink a little and get a new generation of Catholics who would see the church with new eyes.

John Paul II used to compare the church to a set of lungs. He used this image to demonstrate why the division between Orthodox and Catholic is based for the One, Holy, catholic, Apostolic church. I think the other thing is that is useful about this image is the idea that, on occasion, the church needs to get smaller, or inhale, before we can exhale and grow.