February 11^th, 2013 was a momentous day, in the life of our Church.  Not only was it the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes, but for the first time in 600 years, the Pope resigned. 

The resignation came for me, when I had told myself I just absolutely could not abide this hierarchical oppression any longer and neither could the Church at large. 

  What made the event even more wonderful and mysterious was the fact  that lightning struck the dome of the Vatican a few hours after the announced resignation. Various videos can be found on the web depicting this spectacle.  Given my mystic reading on this, I would say that Mary, Jesus, and the heavens spoke.  

Today, being Ash Wednesday, when I’m writing this, I found the following scripture to be most appropriate to be applied to what the heavens may have said, with that lightning strike:  “For the Lord says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you”.  See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” 

  I pray indeed, that an acceptable time has arrived for us, the Church, that we may have a church leadership in Rome that listens, not only to the voices that would agree with traditionalism, but listens to the voices who want the fulfillment of the Vision of Vatican II, or to put it another way, a church leadership that is truly prepared to apply the “hermeneutic of reform”. 

  Apparently, Pope Benedict the XVI had intended for this application, but it never happened. Father Gerry O’Hanlon provides an excellent paper on what ought to change in the Church and where we need to go from here.  This paper is available for reading on the Association of Catholic Priests website.  The paper is entitled:  Fifty Years after Vatican II, Irish Catholicism is at a Crossroads.  While Father Gerrys’ context is the Irish Catholic Church, what he describes as necessary change for the Irish Church is applicable for the Universal Church . The words that come to mind from his presentation, are collegiality, empowerment of the laity, and the decentralization of power.

  I am hoping that Cardinal Marc Ouellet is the pope, not only because he’s Canadian, but because I know something of his character.  He was the rector at the seminary in Edmonton, and I imagined him to be at ease with contemporary theology and with the contemporary Church. 

  As well, he was a bishop in Quebec, and he knows all to well what an exodus from the Church is all about, and hopefully has reflected on possible pastoral strategies and sound pastoral remedies. 

The Church needs “doctoring” of one sort or another throughout the world, but none more so than in places where not only is the Institutional Church in decay and disintegration, but the very presence of Christ is at risk of not getting to those who “thirst and hunger” for Christ and the Kingdom of God.  

Cardinal Marc Ouellet had also shown while he was a bishop in Quebec that he is mindful of the institution’s faults and failings, well, outright, sin.  He once wrote an open letter to the people of the Quebec Church apologizing for the institution’s mistakes and failures.  I believe he actually said they were guilty of sin and so if his heart and mind would have him do the same thing today, then we, as the People of God, might be able to trust, that his leadership in Rome, would in fact, be in accordance with Christ, a leadership acting in humility and love. 

  Hopefully such travesties, as the unconscionable treatment of members of the Church, including excommunications would be reversed and lifted.  I would hope that a man such as Cardinal Marc Ouellet would be reasonable and compassionate, willing to engage the Church at all levels, and in particular, listen to and reflect with the laity, theologians, and maybe even women!  

These are some of my hopes for the future. My cousin, Kieran Starrs, of Monaghan , Ireland , sent me a link, to a RTE television show, that aired on Monday, February 11 and it is an excellent discussion and presentation of the Irish prospectus on the matter of where the Church goes from here.. The show is found here

  The Irish Catholic Church has been front and center in terms of calling for reform and so it was interesting to hear what was said following the pope’s announcement of resignation.  Whatever the results of the papal election, I pray that we have a leadership that is prepared to recommit to the fulfillment of Vatican II.  While we are consumed with the internal matters of the Church, we must recognize that our mission is to bring Christ to those who “hunger and thirst” for “living bread and living water”.