If tomorrow, all the structures around our RC faith collapsed and disappeared, what would we, as members of the Church, be stewards for?  Making reference to Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 8, it says, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but, the Word of God stands forever.  No matter what happens in our church institution, we, as Catholic Christians are responsible for the Word of God.

Most definitely, there will be revisions and modifications to our Church Institution.  We see Pope Francis implementing changes even as we speak.  There has been an overhauling of the Vatican Bank; There has been new appointments to various Vatican offices; There is to be changes to receiving marriage annulment, and the list goes on.

As a result of next October’s Synod on the Family, there are sure to be revisions to the Catholic Pastoral Plan for divorced and remarried Catholics.

I am quite certain that in the days, months, and years to come, professional theologians will be rewriting much of our sacramental theology to accommodate contemporary pastoral issues. In particular, the union of same-sexed couples is putting enormous pressure on the Church, to reconsider and rewrite the sacrament of marriage, as one example.

With the decline of the priesthood numbers, there will be a need to reconstruct how the RC Universal Church is governed, and who and how liturgical ministry is conducted, as well as, as many other ministries.

Revision, re-construction, re-organization, and transformation, are all future possibilities for the Universal Catholic Church, which is experiencing the effects of being in a rapidly changing world, as well as, feeling the effects of an aging and depleting priesthood, and with dwindling numbers of other men and women religious.  We have new pastoral concerns arising all the time from the gay and lesbian issue, to euthanasia, to global murder.

The entire structure of the Church Institution will only survive and maybe even thrive, if there has been a New Evangelization.

The new evangelization will have the Lord drawing New Water and New Wine from women, in particular, empowered to preach the Word. Yes, I am aware that the Catholic Church remains adamant that Jesus Christ did not, cannot, and will not call women to ministries hereto reserved for celibate and married men.  However, if the Church refuses to surrender that belief, it will be attempting to block the Church’s first stewardship, which is to be responsible for the Word.

Tomorrow’s evangelists must be women and men who know the Lord, intimately, mind and heart. The power of reason, that fuels most of the preaching heard today, is inadequate for convincing personal testimony to Jesus Christ and building Christian community.

Sounds like the first apostles and preachers?  Yes it does….and we will need the likes of such ministers again!  New Evangelists….create a New Evangelization…..and a New Evangelization….creates a New Church.  Focus our energies on this…..limit our energies to fixing the old…..and maybe, just maybe…we will be a fulfilment of those scripture words of the Lord….”See, I am creating something new”.  As the Word, dwells richly in the Church, so, the New Church Comes.

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