Brett's Two Cents

Hello, everyone. Don’t know if you saw the Catholic Sentinel a week or two ago, in which the new clergy assignments were announced. One of the things that struck me as I read was how many of our priests here in the Archdiocese have come to us from other places in the world.

I was reminded of that again this week as I read the blog of Fr. Dwight Longenecker, who was writing about his recent vacation in Rome with his family. Here’s what he had to say:

One of the impressions I got in Rome was something that has come up in my podcast analysis of John Allen’s Future Church: The Rise of Africa and the Developing World. It seems the majority of religious, priests, brothers, and sisters you see in Rome these days are African and Asian. As Catholics in the developing world, we should be aware that the church of the 21^st century and beyond will be very different from what we may expect. Traditionalists may be pleased to know that this church will be conservative theologically and morally, but unlikely to be conservative politically and liturgically. The Africans and Asians – more than the Latin Americans – were evangelized more recently. They do not share the same philosophical and cultural roots that we do. Be prepared to think outside the box and be prepared for new ways of viewing the timeless truths of the faith as they come into their majority.

 
Certainly we’ve seen here in our Archdiocese an increasingly diverse Catholic population for years now, particularly in the more metro areas. What we haven’t seen as much, perhaps, is the leadership of our local church reflect that same diversity. That’s now beginning to change.

No doubt, growing pains will accompany the change, but hopefully exciting new possibilities as well. Could it be that the Spirit will bring about the rejuvenation and renewal of the American Church that we all long for by means of the fire and energy of the young Church of the “global south”? Stay tuned. . .